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If you are unaware, a recent trend in cyber attacks involves hijacking your computer's processing power to "mine" cryptocurrency, which they sell for money. Some discovered attacks were large spread enough that experts estimate over a million dollars in stolen computing resources, making the new cyber security threat a potentially lucrative endeavor.

The following claim regarding this issue may be false, dubious, or misleading.

Detected cases of illicit cryptocurrency mining -- the digital equivalent of minting money -- have surged 459 percent in 2018 compared to last year, Cyber Threat Alliance said in a report released Wednesday.
Targeting Bitcoin With a Leaked NSA Software Tip, Report Says - Bloomberg

How did they arrive at this number? My biggest concern is that absolute numbers may not be as impressive sounding as the percentage. Further, what are they counting? Organized operations or individual infections? Does cyber security typically include counts of just one, or both?

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    You could start by reading the report itself which ought to explain their methodology. And if it doesn't, then it's unlikely that anyone here would have independent knowledge of how the study was done.
    – Nate Eldredge
    Sep 20, 2018 at 16:35
  • @NateEldredge: It seems the only relevant part of the report is the line "Combined data from several CTA members shows a 459 percent increase in illicit cryptocurrency mining malware detections since 2017", i.e. the data comes entirely from members of the group which made the report. Unless these unspecified member's data was published somewhere else some other study is needed to answer this.
    – Giter
    Sep 20, 2018 at 17:15
  • @Nate That's what I have you for ;)
    – user11643
    Sep 20, 2018 at 17:32

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