360 Netlab discovers hackers using Android phones and smart TV to mine Monero

Hackers have infected thousands of Android phones and smart TVs. Only this time they're using them to mine for cryptocurrency called Monero.

This discovery was made by researchers at Chinese cybersecurity firm 360 Netlab as reported in “Hackers infect Android phones and TVs to mine cryptocurrency”, published February 6 2018 by Laura Hautala, CNET News.

Apparently, the hackers are taking advantage of open 5555 ports on these devices. Hackers used a worm to create this network of infected devices to mine for more Monero. By interconnecting these devices, the hackers have the computing power of thousands of devices that do not belong to them.

So how does this hack work?

360 Netlab and the hackers - Using spare processing power to mine Monero

360 Netlab found that the attack takes advantage of an open port 5555. Hackers discovered found unsecured Android phones and TVs and infected them with malicious worm. This worm then looks for more devices to infect, effectively creating a botnet.

Strangely the hackers were able to figure out which phones had open port 5555, as they were not opening themselves as pointed out by Chinese cybersecurity firm 360 Netlab , quote: “The 5555 ADB interfaces of those devices have already been opened before [they're] infected. We have no idea about how and when this port was opened yet”.

Most likely, they achieved this via using phishing emails as described in my blog article entitled “How Islamic Cybergroup Team Emirates hacked the Ministry of Transport and Works”

Something tells me that there may be even larger botnets out there mining cryptocurrency, the new wave for hackers. This, after all, is more profitable than deploying ransomeware, as the cryptocurrency is set to rise in value as their potential becomes more apparent.

Still, no harm done but more reason to be careful what you click on!!!