Experts highlight the fact that it's not a very efficient way to mine cryptocurrency

Apr 2, 2014 13:03 GMT  ·  By

Cybercriminals are distributing a piece of malware that’s designed to use security camera recorders and routers to mine for Bitcoins. However, as experts highlight, this isn’t actually an efficient way to mine for virtual currencies.

The SANS Technology Institute’s Johannes Ullrich was the first to spot an infected security camera digital video recorder (DVR). He noticed the infection after spotting Hikvision DVRs, which are often used for surveillance cameras, scanning for port 5000.

These devices have most likely been infected because they have a default root password (12345), which users seldom change.

The malware planted by cybercriminals is specially designed to run on ARM infrastructure. For the time being, it’s not configured to do anything else except to mine for Bitcoins and look for other vulnerable devices on the network.

The Internet of Things (IoT) devices – basically any device that’s connected to the Internet – are increasingly targeted by cybercriminals. Because they run software just like any other computer, they can be leveraged for a wide range of tasks.

However, these machines don’t have too much computing power, so it’s not a very efficient way to mine for virtual currencies.

Virus Bulletin’s Martijn Grooten noted on Twitter:

Recently, experts have uncovered a piece of malware designed to abuse Android devices for virtual currency mining. Although they’re not mining for Bitcoin, which these days are impossible to obtain without special mining equipment, the cybercriminals behind CoinKrypt haven’t managed to make too much profit. However, experts believe we’ll see an increase in mining malware in the future.

Update. Hikvision representatives have posted a statement in the article's comments section. Check it out.