New virus Crackonosh mines bitcoin from victims' computers
Every day 800 computers around the world are infected by this malware
At this rate, bitcoin mining is on its way to becoming an Olympic sport. The cryptocurrency craze has sparked the imaginations of hackers, who have invented a virus called Crackonosh to use the power of an infected users's PC for crypto mining.
This malware hides behind pirated versions of especially popular video games, such as NBA 2K19, GTA V, The Sims 4, and Far Cry 5.
According to an Avast report, these games can be downloaded from websites using torrent technology, and that's where the catch is. Once the virus in question is installed, Crackonosh uses the processing power of the infected computer to its advantage to mine cryptocurrencies.
Since 2018, cryptos, known as Moreno, worth $ 2 million have been mined using this method. As Avast researcher Daniel Benes explained to CNBC, users can suspect the infection of their computers if the electricity bill is higher than normal and if their computers run slower.
Every day 800 new computers are infected and, since the creation of the malware, 220,000 users have had problems with it, according to Benes.
Translated by Caoimhe Toman