A new computer virus that spread all over the web is threatening Switzerland. The virus allows the attacker to mine Monero (XMR) using the victim’s CPU power. This kind of virus was ranked as the sixth most significant malware to hit Switzerland during the first half of 2018.

The information was released in a paper by Switzerland’s Reporting and Analysis Centre for Information Assurance (MELANI). The researchers were also able to discover that the attacks moved towards attacking virtual currency exchanges.

According to the research, the trojan Dridez has been working focusing on cryptocurrencies. Back in 2012, the trojan was known as Cridex and was already operating. During this year, the number of cryptocurrency exchanges targeted has increased during this year.

Something similar happens with the Malware known as Gozi, that was discovered back in 2009. This malware has also evolved in order to be able to operate in the growing and profitable virtual currency market. As per the report, Gozi targets crypto exchanges using ‘malvertising,’ to spread itself as fast as possible.

The research reads as follow:

“This technique consists in using advertisements to mislead the user into downloading manipulated software. In search engines, the advertisements are often displayed above the actual search results, [which] leads to confusion among users.”

Nevertheless, these were not the most critical crypto-related threats. The report explains that the Monerominer malware is an enhanced version of the traditional mining malware that everyone knows. Ranked as the sixth most prevalent malware by MELANI in the first half of this year, Monerominer is not only able to mine cryptocurrencies but it is also able to download more undesired programs.

Monero-mining malware has been in the market for a long period of time. One of the most used software is known as Coinhive, that allows attackers to mine virtual currencies using the victim’s CPU power.

It seems that hackers are improving their technics and methods of attacking other users, including companies and individuals. Switzerland is not the only country affected by these attackers, virtual currencies know no boundaries and even YouTube was affected by these CPU crypto miners.

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