Microsoft announced on June 10 that it had discovered a number of cryptojacking attacks on powerful machine-learning clusters on its Azure cloud computing network. In a blog-post, the company said that some customers had misconfigured nodes, allowing attackers to hijack them to mine the privacy-focused cryptocurrency Monero (XMR). Default settings overridden Microsoft said that it had discovered tens of clusters affected by the attack, which targets a machine learning toolkit, Kubeflow, for the open-source Kubernetes platform. By default the dashboard to control Kubeflow is only accessible internally from the node, so users need to use port-forwarding to tunnel in via …

Recent reports revealed that a group of hackers behind the Kingminer botnet targeted vulnerable Microsoft SQL server databases to mine cryptocurrencies at some point in the second week of June. According to the cybersecurity firm Sophos, the attackers used the botnet, active since 2018, to exploit the BlueKeep and EternalBlue vulnerabilities, by also accessing through a trojan known as Gh0st, which relies on a remote access malware. Once the SQL server database is infected, the botnet installs a well-known crypto miner software called XMRig, which mines Monero (XMR). There are no details as of press time regarding how many systems …

Recent ransomware attacks from well-known cybercriminal groups have been suggesting that gangs are forging cartel-style alliances to pressure their respective victims to pay the ransom requests. Cointelegraph has obtained access to what seems to be a darknet site that belongs to the Maze group. On the site, Maze has been leaking stolen data beginning sometime after Sunday. The central feature to highlight is that the gang notes that Ragnar Locker, another ransomware group, provided the info, as the title of the blog post says: “MAZE CARTEL Provided by Ragnar.” Some of the victims listed are United States-based companies. Speaking with …

On June 8, Chainalysis announced support for privacy coins Zcash (ZEC) and Dash (DASH) making it easy for the law enforcement to track them. Calling Dash a privacy coin is a misnomer The company claims that it can trace the vast majority of Zcash and Dash transactions due to the fact that most users do not use privacy-enhancing features. When it comes to Dash, Chainalysis goes as far as to say that calling it ‘privacy coins’ is a misnomer, it concludes: “In fact, independent wallet softwares provide more advanced forms of CoinJoin that are being used with major cryptocurrencies not …

A new study revealed that dark web marketplace users are starting to lose trust due to authorities’ crackdowns and “current volatility” within the landscape, which results in instability for the darknet sites to establish a fixed presence. According to cybersecurity company Trend Micro on Sunday, crackdowns on marketplaces Dream Market, Wall Street Market, Valhalla and DeepDotweb have generated uncertainty among users regarding the unstable security infrastructure that dark web sites have been providing. Fears of “exit scams” The report detailed that after March 2019, when law enforcement shut down darknet sites, sales activity experienced a considerable slowdown. Doubts began to …

On June 2, a South Korean court ordered a freeze on all the cryptocurrency wallets, securities deposits, and stocks account owned by Cho Ju-bin, the suspected head of Nth Room. Nth Room is a Telegram channel under investigation for circulating child pornography. According to KBS Korea, the Seoul Central District Court Criminal Settlement Division 30, led by Judge Lee Hyun-woo, accepted the request from prosecutors in the South Korean capital to freeze 15 cryptocurrencies wallets that reportedly belong to Cho. The funds within the confiscated are suspected of clarifying the profits that the defendant would have obtained as the mastermind …

Although the Bitcoin (BTC) halving generated a lot of interest proceeding the event, it has failed to kickstart a trending move after completion of the event. This suggests in hindsight that the event was priced in. However, the top-ranked cryptocurrency on CoinMarketCap has not given up much ground following the event, which suggests that traders who purchased before halving are confident that the path of least resistance is to the upside. Crypto market data daily view. Source: Coin360 While Bitcoin has been consolidating in the past few days, the action has shifted to altcoins whose market capitalization has risen from …

The Blue Mockingbird malware gang has infected more than 1,000 business systems with Monero mining malware since December 2019. The global scale of the hacker group’s operations was revealed by cloud security firm Red Canary on May 26. The report outlined the group’s methodology. The malware attacks servers running ASP.NET applications and exploits a vulnerability to install a web shell on the attacked computer and obtain administrator-level access to modify the server settings. Next, the cybercriminals install the XMRRig application to take advantage of the resources of the infected machines. Most of the infected computers belong to large companies, though …

Researchers from Carnegie Mellon University have released a study into the privacy features of Monero (XMR) and Zcash (ZEC) — arguably the two most-popular crypto assets purporting to offer users anonymity. The report finds that Monero’s introduction of strict security and anonymity requirements on its broader ecosystem has maintained the asset’s status as “effectively untraceable.” Transversely, the report concludes that the lack of utilization of Zcash’s privacy capabilities on the part of more than 99% of users undermines the privacy of the overall network despite ZEC offering “strong cryptographic features.” Zcash user behavior undermines privacy The report describes Zcash as …

A report published by the Philippine Institute for Peace, Violence and Terrorism Research (PIPVTR) reveals that terrorist groups related to Islamic State (IS) in Southeast Asia have recently made their first transactions using cryptocurrencies. According to the report unveiled on May 20, the funds are helping finance regional terror groups like the Jemaah Ansharut Dalauh and the Mujahideen Eastern Timur in Mindanao. Coin laundry The report detailed a money-laundering operation’s use of cryptocurrencies, which consisted of two phases according to the PIPVTR. The first was where crypto assets of “suspicious origin” were channeled through unidentified exchanges. This “deliberately obfuscated” transactions …

The coronavirus pandemic has crippled the United States’ economy, which is staring at its worst recession since the Second World War. To counter this, the U.S. Federal Reserve has pumped trillions of dollars into the economy. These measures are may result in hyperinflation in the future. Therefore, investors are buying gold and Bitcoin (BTC) to hedge their portfolios. Crypto market data daily view. Source: Coin360 The top-ranked cryptocurrency by market capitalization has generated increased participation from institutional investors, according to numbers reported by the Chicago Mercantile Exchange. Contrary to the expectations of a few analysts, BTC has remained strong post-halving …

You may recall that an independent film about Monero recently topped the United States box-office charts, with gross sales of just $3430, mainly thanks to the mass closure of cinemas during the COVID-19 pandemic. The film’s producer, Justin Ehrenhofer, recently got in touch with Cointelegraph to let us know that Monero Means Money is now available to stream for free on YouTube — so we decided to review it. Elephant in the room Let’s get this out of the way first. Monero Means Money is not a documentary film in the traditional (or perhaps any other) sense of the term. …