Hackers are moving to opt for crypto-jacking infecting IT infrastructure with crypto mining software to have a stable, reliable, constant revenue stream. As a result, they are getting very smart in hiding their malware.
CoinHive is an online service that provides cryptocurrency miners, in other words, crypto-mining malware that can be installed on several websites using JavaScript. The JavaScript miner runs in the browser of the website visitors and mines coins on the blockchain. It is promoted as an alternative to placing advertising on the website which is being used by hackers as malware to take over customers of a website by infected the website.
Network Level Defense Mechanism on Crypto-mining
Some agents are trying hard to detect crypto mining at the level of the network, however, is one of the toughest tasks like solving a riddle. Crypto-mining could possibly happen on cell phone devices, personal computers, desktops, etc.
The most important objective of every malware linked with crypto-jacking is the ability to communicate so that they could get to establish contact with the new hashes and then comes the part of calculation which is then returned back to the servers and place them in the suitable pocket. Making a defense mechanism is of great difficulty. There are few companies that were able to detect a thing like this. The main problem is getting through the information they have.
The tricks which might help in detecting infection is:
- How lengthy the message is,
- The communication’s speed,
- Combination of some delicate indicators,
- Sudden start of abnormal behavior by the device you use,
- The increase in the number of devices with such unusual behavior,
- Turning off the JavaScript
Endpoint defense can be one additional approach in detecting crypto-jacking might be the best place for detecting a mine on cryptocurrency. Smarter the endpoint detection, the more it becomes easier to detect unknown attacks. In fact, Amazon is now offering EC2 instances with GPUs, which makes crypto mining more efficient.
Image credit : EMSISOFT
