Cybercriminals have terrorized enterprises using ransomware, which holds data hostage until the victim pays the ransom demanded. Ransomware attacks are on the decline, but a new threat has emerged, especially targeting individuals and small businesses: crypto mining malware.
However, ransomware is still and will continue to be a problem in some industries such as government and medical because such entities are ready to ransom their computer systems.
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What is crypto mining malware?
Cryptocurrency mining is the process through miners bring to existence new crypto coins such as Bitcoin or Monero, and by which transactions are verified and added to the public ledger, also known as the blockchain. Anyone can participate in crypto mining as long as he has access to the internet and suitable hardware.
Cryptomining malware, also known as crypto jacking or cryptocurrency mining malware refers to software programs and malware components cybercriminals use to take over a computer's resources, without a user's explicit permission and use them to mine crypto coins. The mined coins go to the criminal’s account.
According to Craig Williams, director of outreach for Cisco Talos, a cybercriminal can make about 25 cents by infecting a home computer with a Monero miner. If he affects tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands of machines, you can work out the math. In many cases, the computer owner may not realize that his device has a problem for a year or longer.
Cybercriminals are attracted to crypto coin mining because existing financial systems cannot trace the payout and the value of cryptocurrencies is on the upward trend.
How can you protect yourself?
Using your computer for crypto mining can slow it down and shorten its lifespan because crypto mining forces it to overwork. It can also open up your system for attack by other malware.
Cryptomining usually causes high CPU usage. Cybercriminals can use your browser or infect your computer itself to carry out malicious crypto mining. You have to identify the source of the high CPU usage and disable the file or process (also called killing the process).
You can use Process Explorer to find the location of the file and the parent process (what started the suspicious process). Within the tool, there is another tool called VirusTotal, which enables you to check whether a file is malicious or not. Go to the Process Explorer tool for full instructions.