New Crypto-Currency Mining Malware so Forceful, Overheats Smart-Phone Making it Unworkable

One more malware that mines crypto-currencies is infecting Android smart-phones to potentially cause failure of the device as it gets overheated.

The malware called HiddenMiner a discovery of Trend Micro the cyber-security company that stated the malware stole the smart-phone's CPU power so the digital currency Monero could be generated. Ordinarily called 'crypto-jacking,' HiddenMiner has the capacity to compel a processor for working at its highest pace over extremely long periods. Consequently, the chipset inside the device gets overheated and so stops working or worse can combust.

HiddenMiner exploits Device Administrator facility, just like SLocker does for staying concealed while active, while this' so well done that it can either utilize all resources of the device till the latter's power finishes or the device stops working because of overheating. Moreover, the malware makes sure that its admin rights continue via freezing the phone's screen after abusing vulnerability within Android OSs 7.0 and subsequent others, anytime the device owner tries deactivating this ability.

According to Mobile Threats Analyst Lorin Wu at Trend Micro, the above resembles Android mining malware Loapi Monero that causes the battery of the phone to bloat. Indeed, the way Loapi freezes the screen following repeal of device administration rights corresponds that of HiddenMiner, Wu writes. Scmagazineuk.com posted this, March 29, 2018.

Presumably, this isn't a lone malware mining crypto-currency endangering smart-phones. In 2017, the Loapi malware for Android forced out so much work from smart-phones that it caused the battery inside to swell till the reverse cover burst open, destroying the handsets in just 48-hrs.

A crypto-currency malware in an Android device is also difficult for getting rid of because phone-owners cannot uninstall a working admin package of the system till at first the administrator privileges of the device are eliminated. However, with HiddenMiner the phone's screen gets locked whilst the owner tries disabling its device admin rights, as it abuses a bug within Android OSs prior to Android 7.0 Nougat.

Conclusively, for security hygiene of mobile devices all app downloads should be solely from authorized application marketplaces; devices' operating systems should be regularly updated, while caution maintained regarding the consents for apps.

» SPAMfighter News - 4/5/2018