Do not invest more money than you can afford to lose.
Thousands of Android smart devices have been affected by a new malware code, called ADB.Miner, that is using the resources to mine the cryptocurrency Monero, reports TechRadar.
According to the Chinese security company Netlab, in the first 24 hours were affected over 5000 Android devices, including smartphones, tablets, TV boxes and possibly smart fridges and other smart home appliances connected to the internet. Most of them are located in China and South Korea and are actively trying to spread the malware further and create a botnet.
“Overall, we think there is a new and active worm targeting Android systems’ ADB debug interface spreading, and this worm has probably infected more than 5,000 devices in just 24 hours. Those infected devices are actively trying to spread malicious code.”
Also over the weekend, MalwareByte Labs posted a blog entry warning of a worm affecting Apple devices running the macOS operating system, that also mines Monero. The malware was spread from a hacked site offering updates for Macs and was spreading fake copies of the Firefox, OnyX, and Deeper applications.
Monero is often preferred by users with nefarious intentions, because it is highly anonymous and untraceable. Various hidden scripts or viruses are often used by hackers to exploit the hardware of unsuspecting users. So far various viruses and botnets like Smominru were exploiting mostly computers and servers to mine Monero, but now the malware is apparently spreading to other devices as well.
