A mysterious new cryptocurrency botnet have been detected on line which seems to be combating the rampant cryptocurrency malware epidemic plaguing the on-line world. As previously reported by Unhashed, cases of illicit ‘cryptojacking’ malware able of using victims’ CPU capacity to mine cryptocurrency have been detected in tens of millions of personal devices previous few. However, quite the hero is rising as the Fbot: a botnet designed to track down cryptojacking malware and erase it from wherever it’s being hosted.
The origins with the Fbot are at that time period unknown. It’s associated with a domain name that could only be accessed through EmerDNS, a decentralized DNS alternative, defining it as very difficult to track or power down. The malware-fighting botnet was discovered by researches at Qihoo 360Netlab, who explain that this bot scans the online world for a specific mining malware called com.ufo.miner. Once detected, the Fbot installs itself into the malware and self destructs, taking malware by helping cover their it.
“Fbot spreads with similar mechanism searched by earlier ADB.Miner,” writes 360Netlab. “Up to date the only reason for this botnet looks to always be just chasing after and removing another botnet com.ufo.miner.”
360Netlab continues:
“Choosing Fbot using EmerDNS with the exception of traditional DNS is quite interesting, it raised the bar for security researcher to search for and track the botnet , it also make it harder to sinkhole the C2 domain, as a minimum not applicable for that ICANN members.”
Is the Vigilante Fbot a Force for ever, or is it a Villain from a Mask?
Cryptojacking malware is elegant, covert, simple contract, and spreading fast. Approximately 55 percent of businesses worldwide are currently infected. Indeed, even major businesses like Youtube have been faced with instances of cryptojacking malware inside their company software.
Just yesterday the India Times reported that more than 119 Indian government websites were hacked by crypto-malware, mining an unspecified fortune in crypto before finally being detected.
There’s no doubt that the world open for desperate necessity of something to deal with against crypto malware; however it remains unclear what’s driving the motivations of whoever came up with the Fbot.
A writer at Hardfork has suggested the possibility that rival cryptocurrency miner malware creators could be using the Fbot to destroy the competition–a terrifying possibility in the skill from the designers. However, in the intervening time, the cryptosphere is able to hold its breathe and hope that there might be a powerful and mysterious hero on their own side assisting to rid the realm of a growing evil.