Over 735,000 computers in Vietnam are infected with Bitcoin-mining Malware

Illustration. - Source: OPHTEK

The virus also takes the rein, using victims' computers to mine cryptocurrencies, causing infected computers to run slower than usual, fall into a lagging situation.

According to Bkav, W32.CoinMiner infects by hacking into computers which exist SMB vulnerability. This is a vulnerability once exploited by WannaCry malware to infect more than 300,000 computers in the world within a few hours.

According to Bkav, more than 50% computers in Vietnam has not got a new patch for this vulnerability yet. After the virus enters the system, it takes the control of computers and actively uses computers’ resource to inflict financial loss, which would slow down the computer. This not only causes inconvenience for users, but also overuse of electricity reducing computer’s lifespan.  

“More dangerous, malwares have an ability to self-update and download other malicious codes to erase data, steal personal information or even perform targeted APT attacks,” a Bkav expert stressed.

More than 50% of computers in Vietnam was found to get SMB vulnerability although the malware was detected and alarmed in 2017. An expert explained: “most computers in Vietnam are not frequently updated new patches. This is probably that the updated pop-ups were intentionally turned off, and there is copyright violation, etc.”