Crypto-mining software can increase costs

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The trillion-dollar crypto industry that runs on mining software could become vulnerable to cyberattacks and lead to higher electricity and cooling costs, a Sophos report has found.

According to its latest threat report, it explained that cryptocurrency mining software consumes computing power to

perform crypto work in hopes of earning new coins (tokens).

For many cryptocurrencies, mining requires specialized hardware with dedicated graphics processing units.

processing-intensive work. But there are still opportunities for mining general-purpose hardware to mine cryptocurrency and there are vast self-promoting networks of mining bots still trying to exploit vulnerable systems and steal processing power from profit-making purposes.

Although this malware does not affect organizations’ data, it saps IT resources and increases electricity and cooling costs. And minor malware is often a harbinger of other malware, as it’s usually deployed through easily exploitable network and software vulnerabilities, according to part of the report.

Due to its popularity, cryptography has become the target of cybercriminals who have increasingly carried out ransomware attacks, whereby they hack into and shut down computer networks. They often require payment in cryptocurrencies to restore them.

Sophos noted that most miner malware focuses on Monero (a cryptocurrency), for a number of reasons. The type of work

needed to produce XMR doesn’t necessarily require specialized graphics cards, meaning it can be run with servers that don’t have a lot of graphics hardware. And XMR is less traceable than many other cryptocurrencies, which makes it more attractive for criminal activity.

Bot miners are often the first malware to exploit newly released vulnerabilities. The Java Log4J vulnerability and Microsoft Exchange Server ProxyLogon/ProxyShell exploits were quickly exploited by miner botnets. In many Rapid Response ransomware cases, Sophos responders have found evidence that minor malware used the same initial point of compromise as the ransomware in some cases months before the ransomware attack.

Miners are also a cross-platform problem. While many minor bots detected by Sophos are Windows-based (and leverage PowerShell and other Windows scripting engines to install and

persistent), there are Linux versions of these botnets often targeting unpatched network appliances or web servers, Sophos added.

The report describes XMR miners as still widespread and popular, while fluctuations in the value of some cryptocurrencies have had an effect on mining operators.

Sophos concluded that as the value of XMR has fallen, the profitability of miner botnets has declined and this appears to have had an impact on bot operators’ efforts to expand their mining operations.

swimming pools. Some fluctuations in detection rates for miner deployments have followed fluctuations in the value of XMR, as shown below. Note in particular the mid-June drop in XMR value and miner detections.

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