According to a report by the cybersecurity firm Palo Alto Networks – hackers are sneaking in malicious files along with legitimate Flash updates. Yes, that’s right! You may be downloading a genuine flash update but behind the scenes, hackers are running a full tilt, mining cryptocurrency for someone else through your CPU. The bot, known as the XMRig is responsible for mining the privacy coin Monero and is included in the update patch since August.
The researchers at the cybersecurity firm claim that victims of malware are directed to the counterfeit adobe product through spoof URL. However, they are still unsure of how the victims arrive at these URLs in the first place.
Moreover, Palo Alto Network conducted a test to check out the fake URL and concluded that they could not detect any foul play in these links.
Researchers suggest that mining malware and crypto jacking is not a new trend and more than $250,000 of Monero is mined through illegitimate medium every month.
Since the Monero Malware Response Workgroup is trying hard to combat these issues – we can all just hope that the crypto jacking ceases soon.
Read Next: The Lowdown on Cybercrime: The Evil Internet Minute (infographic)
The researchers at the cybersecurity firm claim that victims of malware are directed to the counterfeit adobe product through spoof URL. However, they are still unsure of how the victims arrive at these URLs in the first place.
Moreover, Palo Alto Network conducted a test to check out the fake URL and concluded that they could not detect any foul play in these links.
Related: The Widening Cybersecurity Talent Gap (infographic)Nevertheless, the game changes once the Flash update is downloaded on the victim’s system.
Researchers suggest that mining malware and crypto jacking is not a new trend and more than $250,000 of Monero is mined through illegitimate medium every month.
Since the Monero Malware Response Workgroup is trying hard to combat these issues – we can all just hope that the crypto jacking ceases soon.
Read Next: The Lowdown on Cybercrime: The Evil Internet Minute (infographic)
