This Hacker Used Over a Million Virtual Servers to Create an Incredibly Powerful Network, But Then Wasted It on Crypto Mining
Ukrainian police have arrested a hacker who allegedly used compromised servers of an American company to secretly mine cryptocurrencies.
Ukrainian Cyber Police revealed that the individual was able to create a million virtual servers on which he then installed cryptojackers: cryptocurrency miners that attempt to operate in the background without the knowledge or consent of the endpoint owners.
The individual, an unnamed 29-year-old man, had reportedly been active since 2021. He first brutally breached 1,500 accounts of a subsidiary of “one of the largest e-commerce companies in the world” – although the name of the affected company was not disclosed.
Cause damage
After brute force into the devices, the criminal created a million virtual computers and installed the cryptocurrency miners. Everything he managed to mine, he moved with the TON wallet. Police claim the volume of transactions was approximately $2 million.
The hacker was arrested on January 9, with police seizing computer equipment, bank and SIM cards, electronic media and other evidence. He is now facing criminal charges.
To successfully mine cryptocurrencies, one needs an advanced computer and an internet connection. Mining the tokens is a computationally intensive operation, making the computer virtually useless for anything else. In addition, the operation also consumes a lot of electricity, causing the energy bill to rise rapidly.
That’s why hackers often try to compromise corporate servers. They are powerful devices that can mine a lot of coins while leaving the headache of the electric bill to someone else.
Furthermore, while the servers are too busy mining the coins, they are too slow to be used for their original purpose, further increasing costs for the victim company. Those are just some of the reasons why some analysts claim that for every $1 of cryptocurrency mined, the victim suffers approximately $53 in damages.
Hackers typically use cryptojackers to mine Monero (XMR), a privacy-focused coin that is reportedly virtually untraceable. XMRig is one of the most popular crypto miners out there.
Through: BleepingComputer