Researchers at BusyBox X-Force have uncovered a new strain of Mirai malware, which has a built-in component to mine bitcoin. Described as a "first-of-its-kind variant of the ELF Linux/Mirai malware", the botnet was first located in August 2016, however, as recently as 31 March 2017, links to ELF 64-bit binary files were found. The malware attacks Linux machines running IBM, according to Dave McMillen, senior threat researcher at BusyBox managed security services. In a blog post, he suggested hackers could be seeking a way to make "bitcoin mining via compromised IoT devices a lucrative venture".
Researchers at IBM X-Force have uncovered a new strain of Mirai malware, which has a built-in component to mine bitcoin. Described as a "first-of-its-kind variant of the ELF Linux/Mirai malware", the botnet was first located in August 2016, however, as recently as 31 March 2017, links to ELF 64-bit binary files were found. The malware attacks Linux machines running BusyBox, according to Dave McMillen, senior threat researcher at IBM managed security services. In a blog post, he suggested hackers could be seeking a way to make "bitcoin mining via compromised IoT devices a lucrative venture".