Crypto Mining Malware Has Started To Be “Self-Aware”

Crypto mining malware is one of the worst threats that people are facing right now. With the rise in the price of crypto's (especially Bitcoin and Monero), many malware appeared to use people’s computers to mine tokens and make a profit. Now, The Next Web’s Hard Fork has published an article talking about the latest mining malware that has become (kind of) self-aware.

According to the crypto news site, researchers from Palo Alto Networks’ Unit 42 have discovered that a new cryptojacking malware which is targeting Linux (yeah, you didn’t read it wrong, this time, Linux is not protected) and using administrative privileges to uninstall security programs.

The malware, known as Rocke, adds a new layer of terror to users who do not want their computers to be cryptojacked. By turning off security programs by itself, the program can go on undetected for a long time.

At the moment, the group of researchers affirmed that the software is uninstalled without being detected because it follows the official uninstall procedure, something that they do not know yet how it happens.

The malware seems to be highly targeted at a specific niche because it takes specific pieces of security technology from specific antivirus devices and cloud-based security systems like the ones from Chinese companies Tencent and Alibaba.

Not only that, but the malware even kills any other pre-existing mining malware and even blocks any other cryptojacking software from working at the same time. The whole thing seems to be very tricky and smart in a very evil way.

By using a preload trick, it downloads the mining software and runs it before any other process in order to obscure its origins and remain undetected.

Unfortunately, the future is bleak for us. Cryptojacking software is getting better every time and security programs are not catching up to it, which makes the whole thing considerably harder than it has to be.

The developers and researchers at Palo Alto’s Unit 42 believe that this may be the beginning of many more attacks, so brace yourself for more malware.

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