The Hacker News - Cybersecurity News and Analysis: mining

A security researcher has just discovered a stealthy cryptocurrency-mining malware that was also using Windows SMB vulnerability at least two weeks before the outbreak of WannaCry ransomware attacks. According to Kafeine, a security researcher at Proofpoint , another group of cyber criminals was using the same EternalBlue exploit , created by the NSA and dumped last month by the Shadow Brokers, to infect hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide with a cryptocurrency mining malware called ' Adylkuzz .' This malicious campaign went unnoticed for weeks because unlike WannaCry , this malware does not install ransomware or notify victims, but instead, it quietly infects unpatched computers with malware that only mine ' Monero ,' a Bitcoin-like cryptocurrency. This Malware Saves Computers From Getting Hacked By WannaCry The Researcher believes Adylkuzz malware attack could be larger in scale than WannaCry ransomware attack because it has been designed to blo

The Bitcoin mining rig is becoming a popular alternative to people who want an easy way to earn the digital currency. All you have to do is plug the hardware that specializes in Bitcoin mining and run its customized software. After that, you can sit back and relax as it mines the digital currency for you. A popular eSports league has admitted that one of its employees harnessed the power of member's computers without their knowledge in order to mine Bitcoins. For a period of 2 weeks, gamers noticed that their computers were generating unusually high GPU loads and frequent BSOD errors. Some gamers stated that their GPUs were damaged due to them reaching temperatures above 90 degrees Celsius. The mining began on April 13th and affected thousands of gamers, who unwittingly mined over $3,700 worth of the currency. Eric Thunberg, co-owner of ESEA, stated that the Bitcoin miner was meant to be part of an April Fools joke, however, they weren't able to finish it in time. They then de