A new variation of an old botnet, hold onto your digital wallet and more cryptomining.
Good morning on this Victoria Day in Canada, and hello to listeners in other countries. We’re bringing you the latest cyber security news Welcome to Cyber Security Today. It’s Monday May 21st. To hear the podcast, click on the arrow below:
 |
 |
 |
Two years ago researchers discovered a huge chain of Internet-connected devices like home surveillance cameras and routers that had been compromised to distribute malware. They dubbed this botnet Mirai, and it’s been causing a lot of mayhem as hackers leverage it for distributing attacks. Now a new variation has been found. Researchers at Fortinet have dubbed this version ‘Wicked.’ One of the things any botnet does is try to infect other Internet-connected devices to make the chain bigger. It does that by looking for unpatched devices. So your best defence against this is to make sure anything you connect to the Internet can receive patches from the manufacturer and has a changeable password. Unfortunately, lots of devices, such as toys, are made cheaply by manufacturers who don’t care about security. Dump and avoid these products.
Do you exchange Ethereum cryptocurrency with MyEtherWallet? A report from RiskIQ says hackers have found new ways of getting into the wallet and stealing your coin They do it with a phony MyEtherWallet home page. Once you’ve logged into the page, your Ether is quickly and quietly drained. Researchers assume that the users are sent a link through email – yes, another phishing scam. The best way to avoid being a victim of any scam involving a financial institution is to type in the institution’s name in the address bar of your browser. No reputable financial institution sends a link in an email.
Finally, I’ve told you before about cryptomining software, which takes over and used a computer’s power for mining cryptocurrencies. 360 Security Center has found yet another version of this malware being spread. It does it in part by turning off your anti-virus. And if you try to terminate the process running in Windows, the malware makes the computer crash. Cryptomining software is often spread through email, so be careful of what you click on. And if your computer is suddenly slow, you’ve likely been hit.
That’s it for Cyber Security Today. Subscribe on Apple Podcasts, Google Play, or add us to your Alexa Flash Briefing. Thanks for listening. .