Russian Cryptojacking Malware Webcobra Exposed by McAfee

Rise in crypto currency mining has resulted in a number of concerns. While regulations of ongoing crypto currency hacks seem to be the primary worry, a new threat known as “cryptojacking” has entered the picture.

Threat actors inspired by spike in cryptocurrency prices see it as a lucrative opportunity to fill their pockets. Hence, hackers have come up with a new tactic to design malware to cannibalize unsuspecting victims’ computers to mine cryptocurrency.

WebCobra: A New Silent Killer

Researchers at McAfee Labs, a cyber security firm recently discovered a new lethal Russian cryptojacking malware known as WebCobra.  According to them, the threat arrives via rogue software installers that users install deliberately or accidentally.

WebCobra is a nasty system infection that leverages victim’s computing power to mine cryptocurrencies Monero and Zcashsecretly. It infects the victim’s system by stealthily installing the Cryptonight miner or Claymore’s Zcash miner depending on the configuration of victim’s machine.

Though the threat originated in Russia, researchers claim to have spotted it around the world with the highest number of infections occuring in United States, Brazil and Africa.

Criteria of Installing Cryptonight miner or Claymore’s Zcash miner in Victim’s PC

1. Cryptonight miner code: This malware code is injected into a running process of x86 systems and a process monitor is launched.
2. Claymore’s Zcash miner: WebCobra deploys this infection code on x64 systems from a remote server after examining the system’s GPU (Graphics Processing Unit).

Symptoms of WebCobra intrusion in your system

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