The number of DDoS attacks on crypto-exchanges in the third quarter of 2017 has increased by 36% year to year. This reflects the growing popularity of cryptocurrencies in general, Kaspersky Lab says.

According to Kaspersky Lab, compared to the second quarter, the number of DDoS attacks on cryptocurrency exchanges has risen 15%.

Technically, massive DDoS is used to distract the security services of exchanges to implement other types of attacks, the lab adds.

In the third quarter, the geographic coverage of DDoS attacks increased from 86 to 98 countries compared to the second quarter. More than half of the attacks were made from the territory of China.

Attacks were aimed primarily at exchanges in China. They suffered from 63% of the total number of DDoS attacks. Crypto-exchanges from South Korea account for 9% of the total number. The longest of the recent DDoS attacks lasted about 215 hours.

The laboratory also emphasizes that cybercriminals are increasingly attacking ICO campaigns, Vedomosti reports.

The growing activity of hackers is connected with the rising popularity of digital currencies in general, Kaspersky Lab explains.