Beware of spyware – Hackers redouble their ingenuity to monopolize your precious cryptocurrencies. Failing to attack the smart contracts of a protocol, the latter have spotted easier prey among cryptocurrency users. Some even go as far as undermine you cryptos without your knowledge.
Nitrokod: There’s a new malware in town
Over the past few years, we have seen an increase in attack vectors against cryptocurrency protocols and users.
Phishing attack, malware, ransomware, all types of computer attacks pass through it.
At the end of August, the teams of Check Point Research published their findings about a new type of malware.
Unlike its little comrades, this one is not directly after your cryptocurrencies. Indeed, this malware campaign titled Nitrokod will use your computer to mine cryptocurrency without your knowledge.
Based on the findings of Check Point Research, it appears that this malware campaign is from Turkey. This would, it seems, infected thousands of machines across 11 countries.
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Operating mode
Obviously, this type of software does not end up on your machine by chance. So, to infect you, the Nitrokod malware is hidden in the code dozens of applications available on free download sites.
“At the heart of the campaign are several software utilities. The campaign dropped malware from freeware available on popular websites such as Softpedia and Uptodown. The software can also be easily found through Google when users search for Google Translate Desktop download. »
Once on the computer, the program will install the software initially wanted, for example Google Translate, so as not to be spotted. This is after the malware comes into play.
First, it will check that it is not already installed on the machine. If not, it will run the malware installation. This also sets up a cyclical check to update the malware.
However, the installation is not finalized. Indeed, the program has a mechanism that allows it to defer installation several days or even weeks after the initial infection. This allows him in particular not to be detected.
Once all the installation steps have been completed, the program will deploy the mining malware of cryptocurrency. This one then goes estimate machine performance to find out how much power it can mine without being detected.
Unsurprisingly, this one will operate a mining via CPU and not GPU. Therefore, these are Monero (XMR) which will be mined without your knowledge.
Hackers and scammers are doubling their ingenuity to attack your cryptocurrencies. Many of them use social networks, such as Twitter, to infect their victims.
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