• About Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Us
Coinpress
No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Bitcoin
  • Ethereum
  • Cryptocurrency
    • Altcoin
    • Litecoin
  • Blockchain
  • Regulation
  • Market
  • Prices
  • ICO
  • Home
  • Bitcoin
  • Ethereum
  • Cryptocurrency
    • Altcoin
    • Litecoin
  • Blockchain
  • Regulation
  • Market
  • Prices
  • ICO
No Result
View All Result
coinpress
No Result
View All Result
Home Blockchain

An AWS Virtual Machine Is Infected With Mining Malware. There Could Be Others

by admin
August 22, 2020
in Blockchain
0
An AWS Virtual Machine Is Infected With Mining Malware. There Could Be Others
0
SHARES
173
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter


A cybersecurity firm has unearthed a monero mining script embedded in a public instance of an Amazon Web Service (AWS) virtual machine. Now the firm is raising the question: How many other community Amazon Machine Instances (AMIs) are infected with the same malware?

Researchers at Mitiga revealed in a blog post Friday an AWS AMI for a Windows 2008 virtual server hosted by an unverified vendor is infected with a Monero mining script. The malware would have infected any device running the AMI with the purpose of using the device’s processing power to mine the privacy coin monero in the background – a malware attack that has become all too common in crypto’s digital wild west.

“Mitiga’s security research team has identified an AWS Community AMI containing malicious code running an unidentified crypto (Monero) miner. We have concerns this may be a phenomenon, rather than an isolated occurrence,” the blog post reads.

Monero meets AMI

Businesses and other entities use Amazon Web Services to spin up what are called “EC2” instances of popular programs and services. Also known as virtual machines, these EC2s are developed by third parties and are deployed under the Amazon Machine Instance framework, and businesses leverage these services to lower the costs of compute power for their business operations. AWS users can source these services from Amazon Marketplace AMIs, which are Amazon-verified vendors, or Community AMIs, which are unverified. 

Read more: BlackBerry and Intel Tackle Cryptojacking Malware With New Detection Tool

Mitiga discovered this monero script in a Community AMI for a Windows 2008 Server while conducting a security audit for a financial services company. In its analysis, Mititga concluded that the AMI was created with the sole purpose of infecting devices with the mining malware, as the script was included in the AMI’s code from day one.

Code for the monero mining script
Source: Mitiga

Outside of the financial services company that hired Mitiga to review the AMI, the cybersecurity firm is unaware of how many other entities and devices may be infected with the malware. 

“As to how Amazon allows this to happen, well, this is the biggest question that arises from this discovery, but it’s a question that should also be directed to AWS’s (sic) Comms team,” the team told CoinDesk over email.

CoinDesk reached out to Amazon Web Services to learn more about its approach to handling unverified AMI publishers but a representative declined to comment. Amazon Web Service’s documentation includes the caveat that users choose to use Community AMIs “at [their] own risk” and that Amazon “can’t vouch for the integrity or security of [these] AMIs.”

mitiga-community-ami-2
The AWS page containing the Community AMI that is infected with the malware
Source: Mitiga

One-off event or one of many?

Mitiga’s principal concern is that this malware could be one of several bugs worming around in unverified AMIs. The fact that Amazon does not provide transparent data regarding AWS use exacerbates this worry, the firm told CoinDesk.

“As AWS customer usage is obfuscated, we can’t know how far and wide this phenomenon stretches without AWS’s own investigation. We do however believe that the potential risk is high enough to issue a security advisory to all AWS customers using Community AMIs.”

Read more: North Korea Is Expanding Its Monero Mining Operations, Says Report 

Mitiga recommends that any entity running a community AMI should terminate it immediately and search for a replacement from a trusted vendor. At the very least, businesses that rely on AWS should painstakingly review the code before integrating unverified AMIs into their business logic. 

Mining malware could actually be the most innocuous form of infection a business may experience, the firm continued in the post. The worst-case scenario includes an AMI installing a backdoor on a business’ computer or ransomware that would encrypt the company’s files with the aim of extorting it for money to regain access.

The attack is the latest in a trend of so-called “crypto-jacking” attacks. Monero is the coin of choice among attackers thanks to its mining algorithm, which can be run easily using a computer’s CPU and GPU. When attackers infect enough computers and pool their resources, the collective hashpower is enough to merit a pretty payday.

If Mitiga’s fears are true, other AMIs may have infected user devices with monero mining scripts and gone unnoticed.

Disclosure

The leader in blockchain news, CoinDesk is a media outlet that strives for the highest journalistic standards and abides by a strict set of editorial policies. CoinDesk is an independent operating subsidiary of Digital Currency Group, which invests in cryptocurrencies and blockchain startups.



Source link

READ ALSO

Según Morgan Stanley, la demanda de GPUs podría ralentizarse si Ethereum pasa a proof-of-stake

Payroll, Web3 and the $62B Opportunity

Tags: AWSInfectedMachineMalwareMiningVirtual

Related Posts

Blockchain

Según Morgan Stanley, la demanda de GPUs podría ralentizarse si Ethereum pasa a proof-of-stake

June 27, 2022
Payroll, Web3 and the $62B Opportunity
Blockchain

Payroll, Web3 and the $62B Opportunity

June 27, 2022
Voyager Digital Posts Income of $3.2M in Fiscal Q2, Plans to Add Equity Trading and NFTs
Blockchain

Voyager Digital Issues Default Notice to 3AC, Draws Down $75M of Alameda Revolver

June 27, 2022
GPU Demand Likely to Slow if Ethereum Moves to Proof-of-Stake
Blockchain

GPU Demand Likely to Slow if Ethereum Moves to Proof-of-Stake

June 27, 2022
Opaque Platforms and Intertwined Protocols Pose Big Risk to Crypto
Blockchain

Opaque Platforms and Intertwined Protocols Pose Big Risk to Crypto

June 26, 2022
Ripple To Hire 50 Engineers For Its New Crypto Hub In Canada
Blockchain

Ripple To Hire 50 Engineers For Its New Crypto Hub In Canada

June 25, 2022

POPULAR NEWS

Be The First To Know About Ecoto

Be The First To Know About Ecoto

April 28, 2021
Avalon-WM Review  – Where Every Online Trader Should Trade

Avalon-WM Review – Where Every Online Trader Should Trade

February 19, 2021
Chainlink to Start Supplying Data for Crypto.com’s DeFi Wallet

What You Should Know About GSX – The World’s First Growth Coin

October 6, 2020
Ubisoft Launches Their First NFTs On Tezos

Ubisoft Launches Their First NFTs On Tezos

January 20, 2022

UAS: The Government Actually Delivering Prosperity to Africa

September 22, 2020

EDITOR'S PICK

Avalanche, Polygon See Slight Gains as Crypto Markets Remain Flat

Avalanche, Polygon See Slight Gains as Crypto Markets Remain Flat

January 10, 2022
Fashion Company Farfetch Joins Other Luxury Giants In Crypto Payment Adoption

Fashion Company Farfetch Joins Other Luxury Giants In Crypto Payment Adoption

June 11, 2022
First Mover Asia: For the Metaverse to Be a $13T Opportunity, Much Has to Change; Bitcoin Rises Late Past $31K

First Mover Asia: For the Metaverse to Be a $13T Opportunity, Much Has to Change; Bitcoin Rises Late Past $31K

June 7, 2022
Darknet Markets Face Headwinds After Year of Mixed Results

Darknet Markets Face Headwinds After Year of Mixed Results

December 3, 2020

About

We publish a comprehensive news feed covering all news relevant to the crypto user, covering main industry news, politics and regulation as well as consumer-level “news you can use” (practical stuff), including handy DIY tips, links to useful tools, unbiased reviews and opinions revolving around cryptocurrency. Simple logic and real-world examples are preferred before technical jargon and personal rants.

Follow us

Categories

  • Altcoin
  • Bitcoin
  • Blockchain
  • Cryptocurrency
  • Ethereum
  • Litecoin
  • Market
  • Press Release
  • Regulation
  • Uncategorized

Recent Posts

  • Según Morgan Stanley, la demanda de GPUs podría ralentizarse si Ethereum pasa a proof-of-stake
  • FTX Token DAO Raises $7M From Community of Sam Bankman-Fried Fans
  • Landindex, the Metaverse Land Data Aggregation and Analysis App is Available on IOS and Android.
  • Payroll, Web3 and the $62B Opportunity
  • About Us
  • Privacy Policy
  • Contact Us

© 2020 coinpress.media

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • Bitcoin
  • Ethereum
  • Cryptocurrency
    • Altcoin
    • Litecoin
  • Blockchain
  • Regulation
  • Market
  • Prices
  • ICO

© 2020 coinpress.media