Four “young” hackers have been arrested in a cryptojacking case
involving over 6,000 computers in what is allegedly South Korea’s
“first” known case of its kind, Korean English-language news outlet
Aju Daily reports Nov. 8.
Cryptojacking is the practice of using a computer’s processing power
to mine for cryptocurrencies without the owner’s consent or
knowledge.
Aju Daily cites a statement from the National Police Agency's cyber
bureau that clarified that the four accused had not been detained, but
would face a trial for allegedly infecting 6,038 PCs with malicious
mining malware, which had been concealed in job application documents
sent via email.
The cryptojacking campaign is said to have lasted two months as of
October 2017, but resulted in mined crypto worth only worth around
one million won ($895).
According to daily South Korean newspaper Hankyoreh, the mined crypto
was anonymity-oriented altcoin Monero ( XMR ), which frequently
features in cryptojacking cases that employ the “Coinhive ” code — a
program created to mine XMR via a web browser. According to a study
published this summer, around 5 percent of all XMR in circulation has
been mined surreptitiously through cryptojacking, a figure that was
noted to likely be “too low.”
Hankyoreh similarly reports that the case is the first in the country to
have drawn the attention of the police authorities. The newspaper
notes that some of the emails masking the malware resembled real
resumes, resulting in the infection of computers used by human
resources (HR) staff, adding that the hackers targeted 32,435 people
in total. A police official told Hani that:
"Security firms quickly responded to the spread of malware, and
[the hackers’] revenue was not very high. Most of the cases
were detected by anti-virus software within 3 ~ 7 days. When
it was detected, the hackers sent further malware, but it was
soon detected again.”
In a global context, the South Korean case is dwarfed by other
cryptojacking campaigns; in July, 20 suspects were arrested in China
in a major case that allegedly affected over one million computers and
generated 15 million yuan (around $2.2 million) in illicit profits.
involving over 6,000 computers in what is allegedly South Korea’s
“first” known case of its kind, Korean English-language news outlet
Aju Daily reports Nov. 8.
Cryptojacking is the practice of using a computer’s processing power
to mine for cryptocurrencies without the owner’s consent or
knowledge.
Aju Daily cites a statement from the National Police Agency's cyber
bureau that clarified that the four accused had not been detained, but
would face a trial for allegedly infecting 6,038 PCs with malicious
mining malware, which had been concealed in job application documents
sent via email.
The cryptojacking campaign is said to have lasted two months as of
October 2017, but resulted in mined crypto worth only worth around
one million won ($895).
According to daily South Korean newspaper Hankyoreh, the mined crypto
was anonymity-oriented altcoin Monero ( XMR ), which frequently
features in cryptojacking cases that employ the “Coinhive ” code — a
program created to mine XMR via a web browser. According to a study
published this summer, around 5 percent of all XMR in circulation has
been mined surreptitiously through cryptojacking, a figure that was
noted to likely be “too low.”
Hankyoreh similarly reports that the case is the first in the country to
have drawn the attention of the police authorities. The newspaper
notes that some of the emails masking the malware resembled real
resumes, resulting in the infection of computers used by human
resources (HR) staff, adding that the hackers targeted 32,435 people
in total. A police official told Hani that:
"Security firms quickly responded to the spread of malware, and
[the hackers’] revenue was not very high. Most of the cases
were detected by anti-virus software within 3 ~ 7 days. When
it was detected, the hackers sent further malware, but it was
soon detected again.”
In a global context, the South Korean case is dwarfed by other
cryptojacking campaigns; in July, 20 suspects were arrested in China
in a major case that allegedly affected over one million computers and
generated 15 million yuan (around $2.2 million) in illicit profits.
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