Don’t Look Now, There’s A Facebook Virus Mining Bitcoin
Don’t Look Now, There’s A Facebook Virus Mining BitcoinBitjuice Editor’s Note: The Norwegian Center for Information Security (NorSIS) has issued an advisory about a bitcoin mining Facebook virus that poses as an instant message image. Senior Advisor Vidar Sandland warns not to take a closer look. The virus only impacts Windows machines, not Macs or smartphones. Apparently it exploits a weakness in Java. Have you received an instant message on Facebook that looks like a picture? Do not take a closer look. So warns senior advisor Vidar Sandland of the Norwegian Center for Information Security (NorSIS). The virus was observed for the first time in Norway about a week ago and has spread rapidly through direct messages on Facebook, according to NorSIS. The computer becomes infected as soon as you download and open the attachment, says Sandland. How is computer performance affected? Senior Adviser reports that the virus steals all the computing power from your computer, it uses power from the video card or processor. A user will notice that the computer becomes slower and the fan is noisier. Beyond that there is nothing else to indicate the problem. What benefit do the hackers receive? They use computational capacity to earn money. Users machines are helping to solve a math problem, and that is big money to make if you have a lot of computing power, responds senior counselor. How much money? It can range from 0 to 10,000 dollars or more a day, depending on the available computing power, Sandland says. Who is vulnerable? The virus has spread significantly, but does not affect mobile platforms like phones and tablets. Only Windows computers are vulnerable, says Sandland. What can I do? Over the past day NorSIS have been contacted by people with up to six direct messages of this type. It appears to be primarily a Norwegian phenomenon since the prevalence of Java is great because of, among other things, bank ID. Norway is therefore a favored country for this attack, but there is no reason to worry about passwords and online banking, says Sandland. He adds that there’s nothing to prevent malware from mutating to do other things. NorSIS encourages people to have an updated antivirus program, and not download instant messages. “Right now there is not a antivirus software that detects and removes this virus and it is worrying, although we expect that more suppliers will gradually be able to detect and remove the virus,” he said.
