French police have shut down a massive botnet that has been used for Monero cryptojacking.
Cryptojacking backed by "Massive firepower"BBC News reported the development on Aug. 27.
According to the police, the botnet was distributed by sending virus-laden emails with offers for erotic pictures or fast cash, and further propogated through infected USB drives.
The virus, called Retadup, ultimately infected 850,000 computers in over 100 countries - thus creating a massive botnet.
"People may not realise it but 850,000 infected computers means massive firepower, enough to bring down all the websites on the planet."
Unknown hackers reportedly availed themselves of this large network to install a program to mine the security-focused cryptocurrency XMR without the users' permission.
Additional details and aftermathThe French police were able to find the botnet's server, which was located in Paris, and disinfect the hundreds of thousands of affected computers by redirecting the virus to a harmless destination on the internet with the help of the United States Federal Bureau of Investigation or FBI.However, the botnet operators have not been apprehended at the time of publication.
They are reportedly believed to have made millions of dollars from illicit activities, which began back in 2016.More XMR cryptojacking from France?As previously reported by Cointelegraph, the cybersecurity company Varonis recently discovered an unusually stealthy XMR miner that turns itself off whenever a user launches task manager.
The researchers believe that this XMR miner also originates from France, or a French-speaking country.
They based their hypothesis on the presence of French terms in the code, as well as French comments in the self-extracting archive file.
French Police Shut Down 850,000 Computer Botnet Used for Cryptojacking
gepubliceerd op Aug 28, 2019
by Cointele | gepubliceerd op Coinage
Coinage
Vermeld in dit artikel
Recent nieuws
Alles zien
Blockchain Bites: Bitcoin's Run, Uniswap's Hemorrhaging Value, Anchorage's Banking Bid
Bitcoin is nearing all-time highs in price and market cap last set three years ago.
Japan's megabanks to lead experiment with digital yen
We have, in order, Cheese Bank with a $3.3 million theft, Akropolis with its $2 million loss, Value DeFi with a whopping $6 million exploit and finally Origin Protocol's loss of $7 million.
Number of new Bitcoin addresses spikes amid growing FOMO
Japan's three largest banks, as part of a group of 30 private sector actors, are set to collaborate on an experiment with a digital yen.
Not just Wall Street: Quant trader explains why Bitcoin price is going up
Sam Trabucco, a quantitative trader at Alameda Research, believes four general factors are pushing up the price of Bitcoin.