A type of cryptocurrency mining malwarehas spread due to an exploitdeveloped by the US National Security Agency,cybersecurity researchers say. <\/p>\n
According to Dr.Web, a Russian anti-virus vendor, the NSA's \"DoublePulsar\" backdoor whichwas leaked earlier this year by a group called the Shadow Brokers allows the entry of a Trojan program that installs software to secretly mine the privacy-oriented digital currency monero. <\/p>\n
In a 15th Juneblog post, Dr.Web laid out the nuts and bolts of the malware, noting: <\/p>\n
\"This malicious program, designed for mining the Monero (XMR) cryptocurrency, was dubbed Trojan.BtcMine.1259. Trojan.DownLoader24.64313 downloads the miner to a computer. This loader Trojan is distributed via the backdoor DoublePulsar.\" <\/p>\n
It's not immediatelyclear how many machines have been infected with the malware due to the NSA exploit, and a representative for the company wasn't immediately available to comment when reached. <\/p>\n
Wiredreported in April that tens of thousands of machine were impacted following the exploit's release. <\/p>\n
DoublePulsar has also been identified as a factor in the recent \"WannaCry\" ransomware attacks, which impacted hundreds of thousands of computers across the globe. <\/p>\n
Image via Shutterstock <\/p>\n
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NSA 'DoubleStar' Backdoor Blamed for Cryptocurrency Mining Malware - CoinDesk<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A type of cryptocurrency mining malwarehas spread due to an exploitdeveloped by the US National Security Agency,cybersecurity researchers say. Continue reading