McAfee Labs researchers have announced the discovery of a new Russian malware, dubbed WebCobra, which harnesses victims’ computing power to mine for cryptocurrencies.
The full report can be found here.
Key research findings include:
- WebCobra uniquely and silently drops and installs the Cryptonight miner or Claymore’s Zcash miner, depending on the architecture of the targeted machine
- McAfee researchers observed infections of WebCobra across the globe, with the highest number of infections in Brazil, South Africa, and the United States
- The research shows code mining malware continues to evolve as cybercriminals take advantage of this relatively easy path to stealing value
- The malware morphs and installs different miners depending upon the machine it infects, checking for security products and adjusting as needed, proving that coin mining malware is harmfully evolving to have a maximum effect on targets
