The Technology section is published with the support of Favbet Tech
There hasn’t been any interesting news on the topic of hidden cryptocurrency mining for a long time, and here’s these days, the cyber police of Ukraine together with Europol
The EU law enforcement agency for combating international organized crime detained a 29-year-old hacker from Nikolaev, who is considered involved in a large-scale scheme for at least $2 million.
Europol said it first learned of the attack in January 2023 from an unspecified cloud service provider that was investigating compromised cloud accounts on its own platform. After this, European law enforcement, Ukrainian police and the cloud provider teamed up to track and identify the hacker. Thus, in the Netherlands, Europol created a special working group and VCP (Virtual Command Post) for the immediate analysis of information obtained during investigative actions in Ukraine.
The special arrest operation took place on January 9 – with the force support of the TOR special unit, law enforcement officers conducted authorized searches in the defendant’s premises on the territory of Nikolaev, seizing computer equipment, SIM cards, bank cards and other electronic devices as evidence of illegal activities.
According to the National Police, since 2021, the attacker has been infecting the servers of a well-known American e-commerce company (its name is not mentioned). First, the hacker “broke” 1,500 accounts of the subsidiary company using self-developed automatic password selection software (the so-called “brute force”). Then, using the data from the compromised accounts, the hacker gained access to the service management and secretly infected the server equipment with a cryptocurrency mining virus, attracting more than a million virtual computers for illegal cryptomining.
For more than two years, he withdrew almost $2 million in cryptocurrency (equivalent to more than 75 million hryvnia) to controlled TON (Telegram) electronic wallets. Europol also helped in blocking the defendant’s electronic wallets with the assets on them.
In connection with the actions of the attacker, criminal proceedings were initiated under Part 5 of Art. 361 of the Criminal Code
Unauthorized interference in the work of information (automated), electronic communication, information and communication systems, electronic communication networks) of the Criminal Code of Ukraine. For them, a hacker can receive up to 15 years behind bars with deprivation of the right to hold certain positions or engage in certain activities. Investigative actions are ongoing in order to identify possible accomplices of the defendant and his involvement in pro-Russian hacker groups, therefore additional classification of the crime is possible.
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Hidden cryptocurrency mining is not a new scheme at all. In a 2022 report, Sysdig experts estimate the damage from cryptojacking to be approximately $53 for every $1 worth of Monero (XMR) that cybercriminals mine on infected devices.
Some of the most effective methods for protecting against cryptojacking attacks include monitoring unusual activity (such as unexpected increases in resource usage), implementing endpoint security systems, and limiting administrative privileges and access to critical resources along with regularly updating systems security, as crypto-crimes often exploit documented weaknesses in cloud platforms to initially compromise. Finally, all administrative accounts should support 2FA in case their credentials are stolen.
The Technology section is published with the support of Favbet Tech
Favbet Tech is IT a company with 100% Ukrainian DNA, which creates perfect services for iGaming and Betting using advanced technologies and provides access to them. Favbet Tech develops innovative software through a complex multi-component platform that can withstand enormous loads and create a unique experience for players. The IT company is part of the FAVBET group of companies.