Microsoft Windows 7 system found high-risk vulnerabilities, there is a huge risk of malware mining

According to a Bitcoinist report on January 21, the Singapore Monetary Authority (MAS) issued an urgent warning to financial institutions following the recent discovery of four high-risk vulnerabilities in Microsoft Windows.

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Risk of attack on Windows-based banking machines

The Monetary Authority of Singapore warned that after Microsoft announced 49 vulnerabilities in its Windows 7 system, the traditional financial system would face significant risks. CVE-2020-0601 CVE-2020-0609 CVE-2020-0610 and CVE-2020-0611 4 major vulnerabilities will affect all Windows users. Microsoft has urged all users to update their systems with the latest patches.

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According to a media CIO article, the Singapore Cyber ​​Security Agency (CSA) outlined the severity of these vulnerabilities:

"Attackers can successfully exploit the CVE-2020-0601 vulnerability to perform man-in-the-middle attacks and further decrypt the confidential information of users connecting to the affected software."

CSA went on to say:

"If an attacker successfully exploits the other three vulnerabilities, they can run remote code execution and control the affected system. With these controls, they can conduct malicious activities and install programs without authorization. In addition, they can create malicious administrator accounts To view, change, or delete data. "

So far, Windows-based systems have not exposed the private key, but the threat lies in the use of covert Monero mining software. The example shows files including extensions .wav and .jpeg. In a recent case, a photo of Taylor Swift was used to send a malicious virus.

Microsoft Windows 7 has the biggest malware mining risk

Although the latest version of the patch is released, the use of Windows 7 still poses huge risks. Daniel Goldberg, a senior cybersecurity researcher at Guardicore Labs, believes the system is extremely vulnerable. In an interview with Forbs, he said:

"If an enterprise runs Windows 7 after the end of support (EoL), the risk of such a WAV-based attack is very high … Before the end of the quarter, other vulnerabilities will be discovered in Windows 7, and Microsoft cannot fix these Loopholes, they can be easily used for attacks. "

If machines with Windows 7 are important, the best advice to reduce risk is to take them offline, because connecting to the Internet means that these machines can be used.

In a recent Forbes article, Microsoft issued a statement recommending that its 400 million customers buy new PCs instead of upgrading existing Windows 7 software.

Monero coin mining is no longer profitable

As Monero Mining profits become less and less, it may have a positive impact on the spread of malware this year. By 2020, the relatively low price of XMR coupled with improved mining algorithms may mean that malicious attacks will become less popular. Even large botnets that run mining software can hardly get considerable returns. Since the price of XMR is currently around $ 64.68, the previous incentive to mine XMR has begun to weaken.

In addition, the Monero network has shown a lot of mining activity in the past, and it turned out to be an ASIC mining machine. It is unclear what caused Monero's mining activity to reach record levels. Some new, fast processors can already meet this mining demand. The hash rate of the Monero network is 1.21 GH / s, which only accounts for a small portion of Ethereum (ETH) or Bitcoin (BTC) mining activities.

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