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- A mining virus ‘Niying’ or ‘Hidden Shadow’ seems to work actively. It has taken over a travel website.
- ‘Hidden Shadow’ runs as a ransomware threat. The users have to pay in Bitcoins to free their PCs from the threat.
- Therefore, one should have a basic knowledge of cryptocurrencies. It will enable to detect malware on a significant scale and report it to the concerned authorities.
One of the world’s fastest-growing multinational holding conglomerate, Tencent Holdings Ltd., has announced its Security Threat Intelligence Center. A mining virus ‘Niying’ or ‘Hidden Shadow’ seems to work actively. It has taken over a travel website.
The Threat Posed By Trojan
The good news is that it is yet to pass Tencent’s security software Computer Housekeeper. However, the Trojan has made it on roads. It has used public URLs to capture a tourism and cultural website. The Trojan runs every 80 minutes to collect statistics and data for successful destruction minutely. The threat centre has published several domains and URLs for users to be aware of. Moreover, it has also advised using safety products such as Tencent T-Sec Advanced Threat Detection System and Tencent T-Sec Host Security.
It turns your PC into a Bitcoin miner which is detrimental to your privacy and the digital payment ecosystem. According to experts, the Trojan attacks with the help of the ‘eternal blue’ vulnerability. Further, it buries a mining Dardanian on the victim PC. In the second stage, the virus is said to execute a Powershell downloader and enable a backdoor module through which mining can start.
The Mining Virus’s Impact in the Crypto Market
‘Hidden Shadow’ runs as a ransomware threat wherein users have to pay in Bitcoins to free their PCs from the threat. Therefore, users should regularly look out for threats like these as they can be harmful if security patches are not applied to the system. It has made its presence in the illegal possession of the cryptocurrencies market and continues to be a menace. PASC and Monero coins have been illegally mined by them in the past, which is just to show the extent of wrecking it can cause.
The virus used a tourism website to enter the computer and mine cryptocurrency in the background. The users are caught unaware, and the loss of important data is the only result. This type of shadow mining involves zero cost to make money multifold. Moreover, it requires zero investment which makes it intriguing and attracts more hackers. Therefore, one should have basic knowledge of cryptocurrencies to detect malware on a significant scale and report it to the concerned authorities.
Mr. Pratik chadhokar is an Indian Forex, Cryptocurrencies and Financial Market Advisor and analyst with a background in IT and Financial market Strategist. He specialises in market strategies and technical analysis and has spent over a year as a financial markets contributor and observer. He possesses strong technical analytical skills and is well known for his entertaining and informative analysis of the Financial markets.
