Not only were cryptocurrencies and bureaux de change blockchains this year the preferred targets for distributed denial of service (DDoS) attacks, but in the extortion scheme that usually accompanies these attacks, cryptocurrencies is called for as payment demands.

In a recent study by computer security company Arbor Networks in Mexico, it was achieved that last October alone recorded 3,100 DDoS attacks in that country, of which more than 50% originated in Mexico itself and its objectives are companies and government institutions.

DoS are attacks that have a simple principle: interrupt the access of a network or server to its normal users generating a flood of superfluous access or information requirements. In the case of distributed DoS or DDoS attacks, incoming traffic comes from many different sources, making it impossible to block all of them.

The latest trend in DDoS is that you don't need to be a hacker or security expert to start an attack, just hire one of the many services available on the web that have been called DDoS as a service. There are even websites that offer a comparative study of the Top 10 stressers, with an attack capacity of up to 500 GB/s.

Cryptocurrencies have been, with greater intensity this year, linked to many cyber-attacks, both because of the high percentage of intrusions to exchange houses and networks linked to cryptocurrencies, as well as the choice of bitcoin and others as a means of payment of ransom payment for the majority of attacks catalogued as ramsomware.

The most recent report by the firm Imperva on DDoS attacks reports that currency exchange houses trading bitcoin account for 80% of DDoS attacks in the third quarter of this year.

On the other hand, Michael Klatt, VP of Research at DomainTools, predicts that cryptocurrencies will bolster ramsomware identity theft attacks. If 2017 is recognized as the year when those attacks and others related to ransom demand took on more force, the trend will continue in 2018, says Klatt.

A report from Carbon Black, dated October of this year, records that the ramsonware market grew 2.500% in one year to reach 6 million dollars. While this amount may seem modest, Carbon Black says there are "do-it-yourself" kits of bulk ramsomware on the web, up to less than a dollar and an average price of $10.