According to a new study, almost 30% of UK companies said they had been affected by a malicious program to exploit the cryptocurrency in the previous month.
In a survey published by Citrix, nearly 60%of the companies that were surveyed said they had detected malware in their systems at some point, with the majority of approximately 80% occurring in the last 6 Months.
As reported by ZDNet, the study also found that 60% of affected businesses reported that around 50 computers were infected, while one-tenth reported that more than 100 machines had probably hosted an illegal mine code.
Crypto Mining Malware, which has been gaining popularity among cybercriminals since last year, is hidden software that infects devices by exploiting their processing power to mine cryptos. The code for mining can also be encrypted on websites to benefit of visitors’ devices for a similar purpose.
According to reports, it has been indicated that last year ransomware was by far the most popular tool on the list of bad online players, but illegal miners took over responsibility for about 32% of all online threats with their malware.
Discovering mining malware is not always easy. According to the survey, network control software detected malware in more than a third of cases, but a similar number was reported by employees, and 16% found that the device’s performance deteriorated significantly.
Recently, Kaspersky Lab researchers recently announced that a new form of crypto jacking malware has rapidly spread in corporate networks in countries such as Brazil, India, Turkey, and Colombia. The miner can infiltrate a system and spread to large corporate networks that infect desktops and servers,” said Kaspersky.
Another attack reported this month by the Trustwave security company was directed to MicroTik routers and led to the installation of the Coinhive mining software on more than 17,000 devices, mainly in Brazil.
In 2022, 30% of UK businesses were affected by crypto mining malware, according to a report by Sophos, a cybersecurity company. This malware uses the computing capacity of infected devices to mine cryptocurrency, which can have a substantial impact on the devices’ performance.
The report also found that fraudulent emails are the most common method for crypto-mining malware to enter a company’s network. When the attachments or links in these emails are accessed, they install malware on the victim’s device.
Other methods by which Crypto Mining Malware can enter a network include:
When a victim visits a compromised website, malicious files are automatically downloaded to their device.
Malvertising is the display of malicious advertisements on legitimate websites. Malware is downloaded to a victim’s device when they click on one of these advertisements.
Unpatched vulnerabilities: If a company’s software is out of date, it may contain unpatched vulnerabilities that cybercriminals can exploit to install crypto-mining malware.
Depending on the severity of an infection, the impact of crypto-mining malware can vary. In some instances, malware may have a negligible effect on the performance of infected devices.
however, malware can cause devices to become so sluggish that they are inoperable.
In addition to the impact on performance, Crypto Mining Malware can also have a financial impact on businesses. This is due to the fact that the malware uses the computing capacity of infected devices to mine cryptocurrency, resulting in significant electricity costs.
Among the measures that businesses can take to safeguard themselves from Crypto Mining Malware are:
Employee education regarding phishing: Employees should be instructed on how to recognize and avoid phishing emails.
Software updates frequently include security upgrades that can help prevent malware infections.
Using a firewall and anti-virus software: A firewall can prevent malicious traffic from entering a network, and anti-virus software can detect and eliminate malware infections.
Companies should monitor network activity for indicators of malicious activity, such as unusual increases in bandwidth utilisation.
Companies can protect themselves from crypto mining malware and the damage it can cause by taking these precautions.