Security firm Trend Micro has discovered a new strain of Android malware, calling it “HiddenMiner” because of the advanced techniques it employs to protect itself from discovery and removal. Like most cryptocurrency-mining software, HiddenMiner uses a device’s computing power to mine Monero. But according to Trend Micro, because there is no switch, controller, or optimizer in HiddenMiner’s code it will continuously mine Monero until the device’s resources are exhausted.
“Given HiddenMiner’s nature, it could cause the affected device to overheat and potentially fail,” the company said.
This strain is not the first cryptocurrency-mining malware to put smartphone hardware at risk: last year the “Loapi” Android malware worked a phone so hard that in less than 48-hours its battery swelled up, bursting open the device’s back cover. Trend Micro said the two pieces of malware share similarities, pointing out that both HiddenMiner and Loapi lock a phone’s screen after users attempt to revoke device administration permissions.
Further, researchers have identified the Monero mining pools and wallets associated with the malware, and discovered that one of the pool operators withdrew 26 XMR — amounting to almost $5,000 — from one of the wallets. This, the firm said, indicates a “rather active” campaign of using infected devices to mine cryptocurrency.
https://www.newsbtc.com/2018/03/30/hiddenminer-mines-monero-on-android-devices-while-protecting-itself-from-discovery-and-removal/
