Cryptocurrency mining shows no signs of slacking off, although its focus has shifted from Bitcoin to Monero. The XMRig campaign has now infected more than fifteen-million users with unwanted mining software. XMRig misuses url-shortener Bitly to hide red flags from users it seeks to induce to click malicious ads.
Other mining campaigns are in full swing. Dr. Web reports that Windows systems running some versions of the Cleverance Mobile SMARTS Server, a legitimate Russian product that automates various industrial and logistical processes, are being infected with malicious DLL files that mine Monero. Trend Micro is following a similar campaign against Apache Struts and DotNetNuke servers. Palo Alto Networks is tracking a mass effort to infect individual users through file-sharing sites. PandaSecurity describes WannaMine, fileless malware used in smash-and-grab attacks.
The miners aren't a relatively harmless nuisance, CrowdStrike warns. Mining is so computationally intensive that it routinely renders affected CPUs unusable.
Parliament is dissatisfied with what many MPs take to be Twitter's evasiveness over how its platform may have been used to influence the UK's Brexit vote. Facebook reports its introspective conclusion that Russian "agents" were found behind one-hundred-twenty-nine promoted events during the election cycle.
Dutch intelligence services are reported to have penetrated Cozy Bear before the FSB threat actor hit the US Democratic National Committee. They shared warnings with their American colleagues.
Symantec, SAP, and McAfee are reported to have submitted source code for inspection by Russian security organs. Such inspection was apparently a precondition for doing business in Russia.