Cryptocurrency miner to crash systems when exposed!

WinstarNssmMiner, a cryptocurrency miner will not just use your CPU power to mine currency online but will also make your system irresponsive and cause frequent crashes if you attempt to stop it or remove it.

Not just you, but also when your anti-virus program detects it and try to get rid of it, it will crash your system.

Over the last few days, this malware had actively stroked around half a million PCs.

On Thursday, experts at HTRI said this crypto-mining malware is purely designed to infect computers to make use of its processing power for mining the cryptocurrency, i.e., bitcoins.

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WinstarNssmMiner hides its files well with its advanced mechanism, but the instance your anti-virus program detects it, it will make your system freeze causing crashes whenever you try booting it up.

Already running svchost.exe (used to manage system services) process is hijacked by the crypto-miner to plant its malicious code into the system.

Once in the system, it will start mining the cryptocurrency using the CPU’s processing power hiding among the system files it stays hidden from the antivirus until a manual scan is performed.

In its second phase, WinstarNssmMiner interferes with specific critical processes, adding a process attribute which allows the crypto-miner to crash the system at will.

Also, this miner acts in a bizarre manner. It appears to be a coward’s creation. As WinstarNssmMiner disable antivirus protection of the system, also backs off when facing sharp swords."

Before evading a system, the malware intelligently scans the system for any security programs, and if any reputed security program like “McAfee” and “Free Malware Removal Tool” is detected it will quit the evasion process.

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However, if a weaker security program is in use or if by any chance this malicious miner finds a loophole in the system firewall it will evade the system striking down the firewall.

And then the victim will face regular crashes, blue screen of death, and many such devastating issues.

So far, four mining campaigns have been linked to this miner.

Developers of WinstarNssmMiner have successfully spread and mined 133 Monero, which is around $26,500.

The malware is created based on XMRig, an authentic open-source cryptocurrency mining project.

However, this legitimate script has been hijacked by malware developers to run the cryptocurrency mining campaign.

For example, IBM has connected XMRig to cryptocurrency mining malware Waterminer and RubyMiner.

Earlier this week, experts from RedLock issued an alert stating that cryptojacking attacks are on the leash against enterprise players which work in cloud environments.

Up to 25% of organizations are believed to have experienced cryptojacking activity within their cloud environments this year alone. Failure to switch access keys and insecure databases are often at fault.

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