Chris Burns - Apr 28, 2021, 10:26am CDT
Microsoft released a note this week about how they’ve been working on defending against cryptojacking for your computer. Cryptojacking is a term describing a malicious attacker, a hacker, using your computer to mine cryptocurrency. Your computer’s processing power – and potentially your internet data, if you’re not on an “unlimited” plan – for their own profit, without your knowledge. This is bad, and Microsoft working to defend Windows against cryptojacking is good.
What is cryptojacking?
Even if you’ve never heard of cryptocurrency before, you’ve likely heard of Bitcoin. Bitcoin is one of a wide variety of cryptocurrencies in the world today. One way in which Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies derive value is through cryptocurrency mining.
UPDATE: Microsoft continues to work with partners and customers to expand our knowledge of the threat actor behind the nation-state cyberattacks that compromised the supply chain of SolarWinds and impacted multiple other organizations. Microsoft previously used ‘Solorigate’ as the primary designation for the actor, but moving forward, we want to place appropriate focus on the actors behind the sophisticated attacks, rather than one of the examples of malware used by the actors. Microsoft Threat Intelligence Center (MSTIC) has named the actor behind the attack against SolarWinds, the SUNBURST backdoor, TEARDROP malware, and related components as NOBELIUM. As we release new content and analysis, we will use NOBELIUM to refer to the actor and the campaign of attacks.
Microsoft: A 2nd Group May Have Also Breached SolarWinds
A ‘different threat actor’ may be responsible for the malware known as Supernova that has been found installed in SolarWinds Orion. By Kyle Alspach December 21, 2020, 03:16 PM EST
An investigation suggests that more than one group has installed a malicious backdoor into the SolarWinds Orion network monitoring platform, with the malware apparently “unrelated” to the initial supply chain compromise, Microsoft disclosed.
In a blog post by the Microsoft 365 Defender Research Team, the company reported that a “different threat actor” appears to be responsible for installing the malware that some researchers have referred to by the name Supernova.
Trump administration says Russia behind SolarWinds hack. Trump himself begs to differ
Microsoft’s analysis of hack suggests someone else had a crack at SolarWinds in 2019 when next-level DLL hell followed likely developer pipeline compromise Share
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United States secretary of state Mike Pompeo has laid the blame for the SolarWinds hack on Russia, but his boss begs to differ.
Pompeo on Friday gave an interview with pro-Trump conservative talk radio host Mark Levin, the transcript of which was posted by the State Department.
During the interview Levin asked about the SolarWinds incident. Pompeo responded by saying: “I think it’s the case that now we can say pretty clearly that it was the Russians that engaged in this activity.”
Cisco targeted in SolarWinds attack as Microsoft uncovers a second hacking group
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Cisco Systems Inc. is the latest company targeted in the SolarWinds hack as Microsoft Corp. has discovered a second hacking group that was also targeting SolarWinds’ software.
The attack on Cisco, revealed Friday, involved internal machines used by Cisco researchers with the company saying that its security team moved quickly to address the issue and that the affected software had been mitigated. “At this time, there is no known impact to Cisco offers or products,” Cisco said in a statement. “We continue to investigate all aspects of this evolving situation with the highest priority.”