A new virus-the extortioner hAnt purposefully attacks the ASIC miners designed for bitcoin mining. According to some media, he appeared in August of last year, but have intensified this month: according to the Chinese edition Yibencian, he had already suffered some Antminer S9 and T9. In addition, there is a danger for the model of the L3 miner Antminer designed for Litecoin mining. The virus blocks the file and the mining process, and then, threatening with the destruction of equipment requires its owners a ransom.
In the message in English and Chinese languages, which the user can read by connecting the miner to your computer monitor, the attacker described two possibilities to unlock: pay him 10 bitcoins or download the app update and disseminate a virus on a thousand new devices. If the blackmailer doesn’t get her, the device can be turned off the fan and element protection against overheating that technique fails, I’ll give him a fire in the house.
According to representatives of the mining pool btc.top, referred to by Chinese media, hAnt really exists and in a few minutes struck 4 thousand devices.
To avoid infection, users are advised to download apps and their updates only from the official pages of the hardware manufacturers.
Recall that in early January, the hacker group TheDarkOverlord, threatening to disclose the secret information on the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001, if you do not receive the ransom, opened the first part of the documents. The attackers claim to have stolen from some of the largest insurance companies in the world 18 thousand documents with confidential information regarding the attacks of 9/11, and demand a ransom in bitcoin for their non-disclosure.
And in early January, businesses, schools and local residents in English-speaking countries around the world have received letters with threats of a bomb if they don’t send bitcoins ransomware. The threat led to a mass evacuation of the population and the opening of investigations by law enforcement agencies in the United States, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, and possibly in other countries.
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