Apps and Software Skype malware turns your computer into a Bitcoin mining zombie By Ryan Whitwam 04.06.2013 :: 11:02AM EDT RyanWhitwam A new piece of malware is floating around, but that seems like par for the course these days.What makes this malicious bit of code notable is the goal its creators have in mind.The malware is being spread via Skype messages and is designed to turn your PC into a remote Bitcoin mining rig without your knowledge or consent.Bitcoin is a decentralized all-digital currency that has become quite trendy as of late.The value of one Bitcoin has recently skyrocketed to nearly $100, and then well over that point and back again.In the past, users could “mine” bitcoins by contributing CPU cycles to process Bitcoin transactions.As the number of Bitcoin users increased, it has — by design — started to take more effort to earn a single coin.This is because Bitcoin production is governed by an algorithm which ensures the supply is limited.Effectively mining Bitcoins takes a lot of power at this point, which is why this piece of malware exists.

By enslaving many computers, the authors can generate Bitcoins at essentially no cost.bitcoin news in urduAll it takes is a Skype message.bitcoin hardware malaysiaThe target will receive a Skype message with an attention-grabbing phrase like, “this is my favorite picture of you.” Yes, this is an old trick, but it clearly still works.bitcoin atm vietnamThe user then clicks the link, which is obscured by a bit.ly address, and instead of downloading a photo, they will get a file called skype-img-04_04-2013.exe.bitcoin to xapoThis is, of course, the malware installer.bitcoin lite wallet

After it is deployed on the system, the program begins slurping up all the CPU cycles to generate Bitcoins.ethereum block time chartIt also reaches out to a command and control server in Germany to download more malware.bitcoin etf announcementThis is definitely a nasty bug.bitcoin upload walletThis vector was detected by Kaspersky Labs researchers several days ago.bitcoin goes to the moonSince it is a novel infection, many antivirus programs are unable to detect it at this time.I’m sure that will be sorted out, but an AV program can only get you so far.Common sense is your first line of defense.Security researchers from Kaspersky Lab have identified a spam message campaign on Skype that spreads a piece of malware with Bitcoin mining capabilities.

Bitcoin (BTC) is a decentralized digital currency that has seen a surge in popularity since the beginning of the year and is currently trading at over US$130 per unit making it an attractive investment for legitimate currency traders, but also cybercriminals.BTCs are generated according to a special algorithm on computers using their CPU and GPU resources.This operation is called Bitcoin mining and is usually performed by users who operate multi-GPU computer rigs.However, mining efforts can also be pooled for better results.Cybercriminals have figured out that distributed Bitcoin mining is a perfect task for botnets and have started developing malware that can abuse the CPUs and GPUs of infected computers to generate Bitcoins.A new spam campaign spotted Thursday on Skype tricks users into visiting a rogue bit.ly URL by using messages like "this is my favorite picture of you" as bait, Dmitry Bestuzhev, a malware researcher at Kaspersky Lab, said in a blog post.Visiting the rogue URL prompts users to download a file called skype-img-04_04-2013.exe that's a malware installer with a low antivirus detection rate, he said.

According to Bestuzhev, the average click rate for the rogue URL is high, at over 2,000 clicks per hour."Most of potential victims live in Italy then Russia, Poland, Costa Rica, Spain, Germany, Ukraine and others," he said.The malware dropper connects to a command and control server in Germany and downloads additional pieces of malware.The malware does many things, but the most interesting one is to run a bitcoin mining application on the machine, the researcher said.Users affected by this malware will experience abnormally high CPU usage on their computers as a result of the infection."The campaign is quite active," Bestuzhev said."If you see your machine is working hard, using all available CPU resources, you may be infected."To comment on this article and other PCWorld content, visit our Facebook page or our Twitter feed.A new piece of malware propagating across Skype has been discovered that tries to convince the recipient to click on a link.What makes this particular threat different is that it drops a Bitcoin miner application to make the malware author money.

While malware has spread on Skype and mined Bitcoins before, putting the two together could be an effective new strategy.Security firm Kaspersky discovered the threat, which it names Trojan.Win32.Jorik.IRCbot.xkt, on Thursday night.At the time, most of the potential victims were from Italy, Russia, Poland, Costa Rica, Spain, Germany, and Ukraine, with the average clicking rate hitting 2,000 clicks per hour: The initial trojan is downloaded from a server located in India, and many anti-malware programs as measured by VirusTotal don’t detect it.Once the machine is infected, the trojan drops multiple other pieces of malware, using Hotfile to grab the bits and also connecting to a server located in Germany for further instructions.For those who don’t know, Bitcoin is a decentralized digital currency, currently the most popular alternative to common forms of money.Because it has no central issuer, it has no single authority and thus no way to lock out certain users (or countries) out of the network.