FEATURE: BLOCKCHAIN
the user’s knowledge. Many cryptojacking
operations will utilise small quantities
of power from many different machines
to create a pool of processing power.
This technique makes large corporations
and businesses an ideal target for easy
infection of multiple machines once access
is gained. According to a recently published
report, ‘around 10% of organisations
received (and blocked) cryptocurrency
mining malware at some point throughout
the course of the year’.
“Security practitioners need to be casting
the ‘visibility and analytics net’ far wider,
to better detect, investigate and remediate
against these. Identifying changes in
the behaviour of these credentials is the
key to successfully uncovering an attack.
This means gaining a clear understanding
of the normal behaviours of everyone that
accesses your network, allowing you to spot
the anomalies more easily when
they happen – and they will. The faster
you can do this, the less time attackers
have to ‘dwell’ in the network and more
data – or in this case, reputation – you can
potentially save.”
Security vendors are working to find
preventative methods and solutions to
these types of attacks.
BlackBerry Limited is one such example and
has announced the release of BlackBerry
Optics v2.5.1100 with cryptomining and
cryptojacking detection for Intel-based
commercial PCs.
Josh Lemos, VP, Research
and Intelligence, Cylance
To detect advanced cryptojacking malware,
the BlackBerry Optics Context Analysis
Engine (CAE) leverages unique CPU
telemetry from Intel Threat Detection
Technology (Intel TDT) to provide enterprises
and SMBs unparalleled detection of
cryptojacking attempts. BlackBerry has
collaborated with Intel on technology
that effectively stops cryptojacking. With
virtually no processor impact and easy
configuration, organisations can detect
and mitigate cryptojacking with greater
precision and consistent results across all
types of workloads executing on Windows
10 operating systems.
Cryptojacking is the installation of malware
on a device in order to hijack computing
power to mine cryptocurrency without
“Given the cost associated with mining
cryptocurrency and the payments of
ransomware demands on the decline,
cryptojacking becomes an attractive
option for threat actors to generate
revenue,” said Josh Lemos, VP, Research
and Intelligence, Cylance. “With our new
cryptojacking detection and response
capabilities, we’re looking to make this
practice a thing of the past, providing
enterprises and their employees with a
turnkey solution that will enable them to
thwart cryptojacking attempts and ensure
their software and hardware are used
for their intended purposes. The days of
exploiting unsuspecting users for free CPU
time are over.”
“As hackers use more sophisticated tactics
to bypass detection, it’s more important
than ever to have built-in hardware security
features,” said Stephanie Hallford, Intel Vice
President of the Client Computing Group
and General Manager of Business Client
Platforms. “Building on top of the builtfor-business
Intel vPro platform, enabled
by Intel Hardware Shield, BlackBerry takes
advantage of hardware visibility to offer
advanced security protection and we
applaud it for this release.” •
WE’RE LOOKING TO MAKE THIS
PRACTICE A THING OF THE PAST,
PROVIDING ENTERPRISES AND
THEIR EMPLOYEES WITH A TURNKEY
SOLUTION THAT WILL ENABLE THEM TO
THWART CRYPTOJACKING ATTEMPTS.
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