News has surfaced that a new strain of malware called RubyMiner is being used by cyber criminals to target outdated Linux and Windows serves to secretly mine cryptocurrency. According to Check Point researchers, the criminal has been using RubyMiner to plant the cryptocurrency miner XMrig on vulnerable systems to hijack users’ CPU processing power and covertly mine Monero coins. The attacks are thought to have began from the 9th January, 2018. Javvad Malik, Security Advocate at AlienVault commented below.
Javvad Malik, Security Advocate at AlienVault:
“As cryptocurrencies gain popularity and value, they become a more attractive target to cyber criminals looking to make a quick profit either by hijacking wallets directly, or by using malware to mine cryptocurrencies.
Due to the fact that more and more variants emerge frequently, businesses should keep systems updated where possible, and invest in threat detection and response controls that can detect where malicious techniques are being used to mine cryptocurrencies.
For example, with RubyMiner, companies can use these indicators of compromise to detect activity: https://otx.alienvault.com/pulse/5a5d97a62a715339e54fe3a7″
