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It’s fun to jump on our favorite social media sites such as Facebook, Instagram, or LinkedIn and know we can quickly check in with friends and family, discover interesting content, and instantly connect with colleagues worldwide. The last thing on most of our minds when tapping our way into these familiar online communities is being the target of cybercrime.
But it’s happening more and more.
Last month, The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) described popular social media sites as “goldmines” for malicious attacks. The FTC revealed that more than one in four people who reported losing money to fraud in 2021 said it started on social media with an ad, a post, or a message. More than 95,000 people reported about $770 million in losses to fraud initiated on social media platforms in 2021. According to the FTC, those losses account for about 25 percent of all reported losses to fraud in 2021 and represent a stunning eighteenfold increase over 2017 reported losses.
The social environment is a magnet for bad actors because people of every age and country flock there each day. The constant flow of conversation and content—and more importantly, the climate of trust—makes social networks juicy targets for cybercrime.
The biggest motivation? The emerging digital security threat of cryptojacking (aka illegal cryptomining). Cryptojacking is illegally accessing another person’s computer power to mine cryptocurrency. Cybercriminals do this by getting a victim to click on a malicious link delivered via direct message, a news story, or an ad. Once clicked, that link loads crypto mining code on the victim’s computer or leads them to an infected website or online ad with JavaScript code that auto-executes once it’s loaded in the victim’s browser. Often the malware goes undetected, and the only way a victim might know their system has been compromised is that it may start performing more slowly.
While bad actors use social media platforms to distribute cryptomining malware, they also spread other malware types such as advertisements, faulty plug-ins, and apps that draw users in by offering “too good to be true” deals. Once clicked on, the malware allows cybercriminals to access data, create keyloggers, release ransomware, and monitor social media accounts for future scamming opportunities.
Be sure your kids understand the risks and responsibilities associated with device ownership. Consider putting time aside each week to discuss crucial digital literacy topics and ongoing threats such as cryptomining malware. Consider a “device check-in” that requires each person in your family to “check off” the following security guidelines.
To help protect your family devices from viruses, malware, spyware, and other digital threats entering social media sites, consider adding extra security to your family devices with McAfee Total Protection.
Avoid posting home addresses, full birth dates, employer information, school information, as well as exact location details of where you are.
Install software updates so that attackers cannot take advantage of the latest security loopholes.
Select passwords that will be difficult for bad actors to guess and use different passwords for different programs and devices.
For a virus to solve cryptographic calculations required to mine cryptocurrency requires an enormous amount of computer processing power (CPUs). Cryptojacking secretly consumes a victim’s processing power, battery life, and computer or device memory. Look out for a decline in device processing speed.
Be careful when accepting friend requests, direct messages, or clicking on links sent by someone you don’t know personally. This is one of the most popular ways cybercriminals gain access.
Be discerning even when a known friend sends you a second friend request claiming they’ve been hacked. Search known names on the platform for multiple accounts. Cybercriminals have been known to gather personal details of individuals, pose as that person, then connect with friend lists using familiar information to build trust with more potential victims.
Be sure to report any fraudulent activity you encounter on social platforms to help stop the threat from spreading to other accounts, including friends and family who may be connected back to you.
New scams and more sophisticated ways to steal data—and computer processing power for illegal cryptomining—surface daily. Staying in front of those threats and folding them into your family dynamic is one of the most powerful ways to give your kids the skills and security habits they will need to thrive in today’s digital world.
The post Social Media: How to Steer Your Family Clear of Cryptomining Malware appeared first on McAfee Blog.
Cryptocurrency enthusiasts are flocking to the Wild West of Bitcoin and Monero to cash in on the recent gold rush. Bitcoin’s meteoric rise in value is making coin mining an appealing hobby or even a whole new career. Coin mining software is the main tool in a prospector’s belt.
Some coin miners, also known as cryptocurrency miners, are tempted by the dark side of the industry and resort to nefarious means to harness the immense computing power needed for cryptocurrency profits. Greedy cryptocurrency criminals employ a practice called cryptojacking, stealing the computer power of unsuspecting devices to help them mine faster. Your device could be at risk at being recruited to their efforts.
Let’s dig into how coin mining programs work, why they turn malicious, and how you can stay safe from cryptojackers.
Mining cryptocurrency takes a lot of time and computer processing power. A coin mining home setup requires a graphics processing unit (GPU) or an application-specific integrated circuit (ASIC). Coin mining software then runs off the GPU or ASIC. Each central processing unit (CPU), or the brain of the computer, plus the GPU or ASIC is referred to as a mining rig.
Once the software is installed, the rig is ready to mine, running mathematical calculations to verify and collect new cryptocurrency transactions. Each calculation is known as a hash, and hash rates are the number of calculations that can be run per second.
From there, casual miners may choose to join a mining pool, which is a club of miners who agree to consolidate their computing power and split the profits based on how much work each miner contributed to the output.
Bitcoin rewards miners every 10 minutes for their efforts. Each time miners solve a string of mathematical puzzles, they validate a chain of transactions, thus helping make the entire Bitcoin system more secure. Miners are paid in bitcoin and they also receive a transactional fee.
While coin mining typically starts off as a casual hobby, coin mining programs can turn malicious when cryptocurrency miners want to earn more without investing in boosting their own computing power. Instead, they reroute their targets’ computing power without asking. This is called cryptojacking.
Mining requires incredible amounts of electricity and the more rigs involved; the more cryptocurrency can be mined. Usually, the utility bills and the cost of running coin mining software negates any profit. For example, a casual miner may have one rig devoted to mining. An average rig processes approximately 500 hashes per second on the Monero network (a type of cryptocurrency). However, 500 hashes per second translates to less than a dollar per week in traditional, or fiat, currency.
Greedy cryptocurrency criminals recruit CPU soldiers to their mining army to improve their hash rate. To do so, criminals download coin mining software to a device and then program it to report back to their server. The device’s thinking power is diverted from the owner and funneled straight to the criminal’s server that now controls it. Compromised devices run considerably slower and can overheat, and the strain on the device can eventually destroy it.
Cryptojackers are not your everyday thieves. Their target is your CPU power, and they employ devious methods to funnel it for their own use. Luckily, there are a few easy ways to thwart their efforts:
Personal devices are often infected through phishing within emails and texts. There are many tell-tale signs of a phishing message. For example, they are often poorly written and use language that indicates that the sender wants a hasty response. Also, phishing attempts often charade as official organizations, like banks and credit card companies. If you are ever suspicious of an email or text, do not open any of the links and do not reply. Instead, contact the organization’s customer support to verify the legitimacy of the message.
Another way miners gain access to personal devices is by camouflaging malicious code in pop-up ads. An easy way to avoid being cryptojacked is to simply never click on these ads. Or even better, install an ad blocker to help eliminate the risk.
Public wi-fi and poorly protected networks present a vulnerable entry point for cybercriminals to hack into your devices. Cybercriminals often attempt to download software remotely to your laptop, desktop, or mobile device to reroute its computing power for their own selfish gains. Always connect to a VPN like McAfee Safe Connect VPN to safely surf unsecure networks.
Cryptojacking code is inconspicuous and generally hidden in legitimate code. Antivirus software, such as McAfee Total Protection, is a recommended way to proactively scan for malware and even identify fraudulent websites. McAfee WebAdvisor has a Chrome extension that specifically blocks cryptojackers.
Be aware of the signs your devices have been cryptojacked. For example, monitor any changes in the speed of your devices and check out your utility bills for dramatic spikes. By remaining vigilant with these tips, you will keep your devices safe from cryptocurrency miners gone rogue.
To stay updated on all things McAfee and on top of the latest consumer and mobile security threats, follow @McAfee_Home on Twitter, subscribe to our email, listen to our podcast Hackable?, and ‘Like’ us on Facebook.
The post Why Coin Miners Go Bad & How to Protect Your Tech When They Do appeared first on McAfee Blogs.
Trend Micro Research has developed a go-to resource for all things related to cybercriminal underground hosting and infrastructure. Today we released the second in this three-part series of reports which detail the what, how, and why of cybercriminal hosting (see the first part here).
As part of this report, we dive into the common life cycle of a compromised server from initial compromise to the different stages of monetization preferred by criminals. It’s also important to note that regardless of whether a company’s server is on-premise or cloud-based, criminals don’t care what kind of server they compromise.
To a criminal, any server that is exposed or vulnerable is fair game.
Cloud vs. On-Premise Servers
Cybercriminals don’t care where servers are located. They can leverage the storage space, computation resources, or steal data no matter what type of server they access. Whatever is most exposed will most likely be abused.
As digital transformation continues and potentially picks up to allow for continued remote working, cloud servers are more likely to be exposed. Many enterprise IT teams, unfortunately, are not arranged to provide the same protection for cloud as on-premise servers.
As a side note, we want to emphasize that this scenario applies only to cloud instances replicating the storage or processing power of an on-premise server. Containers or serverless functions won’t fall victim to this same type of compromise. Additionally, if the attacker compromises the cloud account, as opposed to a single running instance, then there is an entirely different attack life cycle as they can spin up computing resources at will. Although this is possible, however, it is not our focus here.
Attack Red Flags
Many IT and security teams might not look for earlier stages of abuse. Before getting hit by ransomware, however, there are other red flags that could alert teams to the breach.
If a server is compromised and used for cryptocurrency mining (also known as cryptomining), this can be one of the biggest red flags for a security team. The discovery of cryptomining malware running on any server should result in the company taking immediate action and initiating an incident response to lock down that server.
This indicator of compromise (IOC) is significant because while cryptomining malware is often seen as less serious compared to other malware types, it is also used as a monetization tactic that can run in the background while server access is being sold for further malicious activity. For example, access could be sold for use as a server for underground hosting. Meanwhile, the data could be exfiltrated and sold as personally identifiable information (PII) or for industrial espionage, or it could be sold for a targeted ransomware attack. It’s possible to think of the presence of cryptomining malware as the proverbial canary in a coal mine: This is the case, at least, for several access-as-a-service (AaaS) criminals who use this as part of their business model.
Attack Life Cycle
Attacks on compromised servers follow a common path:
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The monetization lifecycle of a compromised server
Often, targeted ransomware is the final stage. In most cases, asset categorization reveals data that is valuable to the business but not necessarily valuable for espionage.
A deep understanding of the servers and network allows criminals behind a targeted ransomware attack to hit the company where it hurts the most. These criminals would know the dataset, where they live, whether there are backups of the data, and more. With such a detailed blueprint of the organization in their hands, cybercriminals can lock down critical systems and demand higher ransom, as we saw in our 2020 midyear security roundup report.
In addition, while a ransomware attack would be the visible urgent issue for the defender to solve in such an incident, the same attack could also indicate that something far more serious has likely already taken place: the theft of company data, which should be factored into the company’s response planning. More importantly, it should be noted that once a company finds an IOC for cryptocurrency, stopping the attacker right then and there could save them considerable time and money in the future.
Ultimately, no matter where a company’s data is stored, hybrid cloud security is critical to preventing this life cycle.
The post The Life Cycle of a Compromised (Cloud) Server appeared first on .
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