Monero: Cybercrime's Top Choice for Mining Malware

An academic analysis of cryptomining malware has determined that the Monero virtual currency XMR is “by far” the most popular cryptocurrency to mine among cybercriminals. And, it would appear that cryptomining as a criminal enterprise is unlikely to wane anytime soon. After examining approximatel...

Cryptojacking Took Over the Internet in 2018

Move over, ransomware. Cryptojacking is officially the scourge of the internet...

Newsmaker Interview: Troy Mursch on Top Botnet Trends

Botnet activity saw a healthy amount of dynamism in 2018. There were new types of devices being targeted, such as carrier-grade MikroTik hardware; and, there was also a host of new types of criminal activity surfacing making the point that botnets aren’t just for DDoS anymore. New types of...

New Frontiers In Cryptojacking

Tejas Girme & Rishikesh Bhide of Qualys Malware Research Labs present “New Frontiers in Cryptojacking” at the 21st Anti-Virus Asia Researchers International Conference AVAR 2018 in Goa, India. Cryptojacking attacks are evolving over time to better evade detection by both end users and protection...

Save the Children Federation Duped in $1M Scam

Hackers scammed the Save the Children Federation out of almost $1 million in a business email compromise BEC scam. Save the Children is a well-known U.S.-based non-profit group that offers charity services like fundraising and sponsorships. According to the company’s 2017 income tax returns,...

Hackers Hit Make-A-Wish Website With Cryptojacking Scheme

Cryptojacking officially knows no bounds...

Cryptojacking Attack Targets Make-A-Wish Foundation Website

Hackers have been stealing CPU-cycles from visitors to the Make-A-Wish Foundation’s international website in order to mine for Monero cryptocurrency. Researchers said they found the CoinIMP mining script embedded in the non-profit’s website, and that it was taking advantage of the Drupalgeddon 2...

Partner Perspectives: Protecting Against Fileless Malware with BluVector and Carbon Black

Josh Rosenthol is the Alliance and Integration Manager for BluVector. The Challenge of Fileless Malware “The infectiousness of crime is like that of the plague.” -Napoleon Bonaparte While first spoken over 200 years ago, this quote is remarkably relevant to the modus operandi of malware authors a...

A week in security (August 27 – September 2)

Last week, we looked at dubious antics in mobile land, a peculiar case of spam on the official Cardi B website, and we deep dived into fileless malware. We also explored the inner workings of Hidden Bee, and gave an explainer of Regex. Other cybersecurity news: Huge data breach affects Chinese...

This Week in Security News: Air Canada and Cryptojacking

Welcome to our weekly roundup, where we share what you need to know about the cybersecurity news and events that happened over the past few days. This week, Air Canada reported a data breach that exposed passport details for more than 20,000 customers on their mobile app. Also, Trend Micro’s...

Explainer Series: What is Clickjacking?

Here we go, another online trap ready to ensnare unsuspecting – well, until now anyway – users. As if Phishing, Cryptojacking, credential stuffing and old school scamming wasn’t enough, folks really just can’t catch a break these days. Anyway, we’re here to chat about clickjacking, for those of y...

Security News: WannaCry Surfaces in Taiwan, as Reddit Breach Puts 2FA in the Spotlight

WannaCry rears its ugly head again. Reddit gets hacked, despite using two-factor authentication. A cryptojacking campaign targets carrier-grade routers. Here are some recent security industry news that have caught our attention. WannaCry hits Taiwan Semi The notorious WannaCry ransomware...

Qualys BrowserCheck CoinBlocker Protects Users From Active Cryptojacking Campaigns

Qualys Malware Research Labs recently released the Qualys BrowserCheck CoinBlocker Chrome Extension. We have seen enthusiastic adoption from users across the globe in the first week since its release, which has given us enough telemetry data to indicate success in protecting users from popular...

Update MikroTik routers – 170,000 devices hit by cryptocurrency malware

By Waqas Currently, the malware is targeting unpatched MikroTik routers in Brazil but researchers believe it's about time it will spread worldwide. Unpatched routers manufactured by MikroTik have become potential targets of cryptojacking malware campaigns in Brazil. According to the analysis of...

Steam Bans Developer After Outcry Over Cryptomining, Scam Items

The popular Steam online gaming platform has pulled a simple, 2D game from its library, after it was found to be consuming an unusual amount of processing power on gamers’ machines. Steam owner Valve booted the game, “Abstractism,” after players lodged complaints about the game chewing up process...

This Week in Security News: Scams and Security Risks

Welcome to our weekly roundup, where we share what you need to know about the cybersecurity news and events that happened over the past few days. This week, the EU and Japan finalized an agreement enabling the cross-border transfer of data. Also, businesses are turning to machine learning to comb...

Google Bans Cryptocurrency Mining Android Apps From the Play Store

Following Apple's lead in banning cryptocurrency mining apps, Google has also updated its Play Store policy this week to ban apps that mine cryptocurrencies on users' devices in the background. However, there are countless cryptocurrency mining apps, including MinerGate, AA Miner, NeoNeonMiner, a...

Staying Safe in the Era of Browser-based Cryptocurrency Mining

Qualys Malware Research Labs is announcing the release of Qualys BrowserCheck CoinBlocker Chrome extension to detect and block browser-based cryptocurrency mining, aka cryptojacking. Cryptojacking Cryptojacking attacks leverage the victim system’s resources via malicious JavaScript to mine certai...

The trend toward cryptojacking: What it is and how businesses can prevent it

Digital attacks have evolved quite a bit in recent years. First, businesses and researchers observed a rash of ransomware, wherein encryption was exploited to lock users out of their data and files in an attempt to collect financial ransom. Now, the next big wave in cybercriminal strategy has com...

Newsmaker Interview: Troy Mursch on Why Cryptojacking Isn’t Going Away

Cyber criminals have seen a golden opportunity in the meteoric rise of cryptocurrencies over the past year. They are harnessing devices – from laptops, to desktops, all the way up to servers – to mine cryptocurrencies such as Bitcoin or Monero. This malicious move, dubbed by some researchers as...