Just when you thought the WannaCry attack was bad enough another cyberattack is lurking on the horizon.
And, from what some experts are saying this could be way worse than WannaCry. There is a new botnet bug called Adylkuzz – apparently, it was created using the same NSA elements that were used in the recent WannaCry attack.
But, this looming attack does not lock computers. Adylkuzz’s mission is completely different. Since the WannaCry attack did not rake in enough Ransom money – the mission of this more advanced threat is to mine computers for ‘Monero’ – a Bitcoin style cryptocurrency.
This is where it gets more complex and scales up, as mentioned in a Mashable article ”The process of mining uses the computer's resources — its processor and/or graphics card — to perform complex computations, which in turns "creates" new Monero coins. Running such an operation on one computer wouldn't result in much financial gain, but with thousands of computers working on the same goal, it can be very lucrative. “
For larger institutions like hospitals, businesses and schools, it will slow down thousands of computers at these organizations, crippling productivity and overall operations. Okay, so here is the scary part, unlike WannaCry, you won’t even know Adylkuzz is there since it doesn’t encrypt your data.
The good news? just like with WannaCry – there is a simple solution – just install the latest security updates. And, as always, stay vigilant - this story will continue, stay tuned.