@Godswill71 16 January 2021 more from that month

Cryptojacking; The most dangerous cryptocurrency cyber crime.

Criminals are using ransom- like tactics and poisoned websites to get your employees' computers to mine cryptocurrencies. Here's what you can do to stop it. What is cryptojacking? Cryptojacking is the unauthorized use of someone's computer to mine cryptocurrency. Hackers do this by either getting the victim to click on a malicious link in an email that loads crypto-mining code on the computer, or by infecting a website or online ad with JavaScript code that auto-executes once loaded on the victim's browser. Either way, the crypto-mining code then works in the background as unsuspecting victims use their computers normally. The only sign they might notice is slower performance or lags in execution. How cryptojacking works Hackers have two primary ways to get victim's computer to secretly mine cryptocurrencies. One is to trick victims into loading crypto-mining codes onto their computers. This is done through phishing-like tactics. Victims receive a legitimate looking email that encourages them to click on a link. The link runs code that places the crypto-mining script on the computer. The script then runs in the background as the victim works. The other method is to inject a script on a website or an ad that is delivered to multiple websites. Once victims visit the website or the infected ad pops up in their browsers, the script automatically executes. No code is stored on the victims' computers. Whichever method is used, the code runs complex mathematical problems on the victims'computers and sends the results to a server that the hacker controls. Hackers often will use both methods to maximize their returns. "Attacks use old malware tricks to deliver more reliable and persistent software (to the victims'computers) as a fall back", says Alex Vaystikh, CTO and co-founder of secBi. For example, of 100 devices mining cryptocurrencies for a hacker, 10% might be generating income from code on the victims' machines, while 90% do so through their web browsers. Some crypto-mining scripts have worming capacities that allows them to infect other devices and servers on a network. It also makes them harder to find and remove; maintaining persistence on a network is in the crypto-jacker's best financial interest. To increase their ability to spread across a network, crypto-mining code might include multiple versions to account for different architectures on the network. In one example described in an AT&T Alien labs blog post, the crypto-mining code simply downloads the implants for each architecture until one works. The scripts might also check to see if the device is already infected by crypto-mining malware, if another crypto-mininer is detected, the script disables it. A crypto-mininer might also have a kill prevention mechanism that executes every few minutes, as the AT&T Alien lab post notes. Unlike most other types of malware, cryptojacking scripts do no damage to computers or victim's data. They do steal CPU processing resources. For individual users, slower computer performance might be just an annoyance. Organization with many cryptojacked systems can incur real costs and IT time spent tracking down performance issues and replacing components or systems in the hope of solving the problem. How to prevent cryptojacking Follow these steps to minimize the risk of your organization falling prey to cryptojacking. Incorporate the cryptojacking threat into your security awareness training, focusing on phishing type attempts to load scripts onto users' computers. Training will help protect you when technical solutions might fail, " says Laliberte, he believes phishing will continue to be the primary method to deliver malware of all types". Employee training won't help with auto-executing cryptojacking from visiting legitimate websites. Training is less effective for cryptojacking because you can't tell users which website not to go," says Vaystikh Install an ad-blocking or anti-cryptomining exension on web browsers. Since cryptojacking scripts are often delivered through web ads, installing an ad blocker can be an effective means of stopping them. Some ad blockers like Ad blocker plus have some capability to detect crypto-mining scripts. Laliberte recommends extensions like No coin and MinerBlock, which are designed to detect and block crypto-mining scripts. Use endpoint protection that is capable of detecting known crypto-miners. Many of the endpoint protection/antivirus software vendors have added crypto miner detection to their products. Antivirus is one of the good things to have on endpoints to try to protect against crypto-mining. If it's known, there's a good chance it will be detected", says Farral. Just be aware, he adds, that crypto minor authors are constantly changing their techniques to avoid detection at the endpoint. Keep your web filter tools up to date. If you identify a web page that is delivering cryptojacking scripts, make sure your users are blocked from accessing it again. Main browser extensions. Some attackers are using malicious browser extensions to execute crypto-mining scripts. None of the above best practices are foolproof. In recognition of that, and the growing prevelence of cryptojacking, cyber risk solution provider coalition now offers service fraud insurance coverage. It will reimburse organizations for and direct financial losses due to fraudulent use of business services including crypto-mining How to respond to a cryptojacking attack. Update and purge browser extensions. " If an extension infected the browser, closing the tab won't help", says Laliberte. Update all the extentions and remove those not needed or that are infected. Learn and adapt. Use the experience to better understand how the attacker was able to compromise your systems. Update your user help desk and IT training so they are better able to identify cryptojacking attempts and respond accordingly.