Microsoft warns against crypto-focused trojanized coin miners

It has been all over the news recently that the cryptocurrency market including Bitcoin, has been losing a lot of value recently. Despite this current reality, Microsoft has put out a warning that scammers are still using cryptojackers to try and hijack user devices in a bid to put them to work mining cryptocurrencies without you knowing about it. Let’s take a look at all you need to know about this threat.

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The Microsoft 365 Defender Research Team have access to data on a lot of devices running Windows 10 and 11. According to a recent blog post published to highlight their findings, they detect cryptojacker software on hundreds of thousands of devices every month. Furthermore, the team says that the cryptojackers are becoming increasingly sophisticated, harder to detect, and more difficult to remove.

The cryptojackers work by stealthily infecting user devices and then secretly using the processing units on the devices to mine cryptocurrencies. The more devices they can infect the higher the bounty they can collect. Although this type of malware won’t seek to target personal information or steal from the victims, it will heavily reduce the capabilities of the victim’s machines as most of the device’s resources will be used to mine cryptocurrencies, which will then be sent to a third-party crypto-wallet.

It is interesting to note that cyber-criminals are not only still using cryptojackers but are actively developing and improving them. Despite the massive drop in value across the whole industry, but that they are continuing to develop them for improved effectiveness and performance.

The good news is that most antivirus programs will be able to detect cryptojackers so if you are careful and take your cybersecurity seriously, just like we always say you should, then you should be OK.

In other related news, Microsoft Defender has recently been rated a secure option for enterprise and business users.