photominer worm spreads via insecure ftp servers

PHOTOMINER WORM SPREADS VIA INSECURE FTP SERVERS CODE

If antivirus products detect the worm, they clean out only the worm process, while the Monero mining process remains on the infected computer after previously gaining boot persistence. One is for mining Monero crypto-currency, and the second is for spreading itself to nearby computers. PhotoMiner will now start two Windows processes. PhotoMiner uses 2 processes to make sure it remains on infected hosts

Running the file infects him with the PhotoMiner worm. PhotoMiner achieves this by embedding an iframe tag inside each page, with the source attribute set to 'Photo.scr', hence the malware's name of Photo-Miner.Īt this point, the iframe prompts the user with a popup, asking if he wants to run the file.

PHOTOMINER WORM SPREADS VIA INSECURE FTP SERVERS CODE

The worm alters the source code of these pages in order to deliver another copy of itself. This is easy since there are over 20.3 million servers with open FTP ports connected to the Internet, and GhostShell has shown Softpedia how easy is to hack them.Īfter PhotoWorm reaches an FTP server, it will scan for public HTML folders, usually used for hosting Web pages. The first stage requires the malware coder to find an infected FTP server to unleash his worm. The infection mechanism is a bit complex. PhotoMiner features a multi-stage infection mechanism There are currently two different versions of PhotoMiner spreading over the Internet, but the company says that both function in the same way, with tiny differences.

In the meantime, the company found that the worm was created in early December 2015, and received several updates after its January write-up. Security firm GuardiCore discovered the worm this past January when it also published a quick summary of its abilities. PhotoMiner is a worm that propagates with the help of vulnerable FTP servers, infects public Web pages, spreads to Windows computers and sets up a mining process for the Monero crypto-currency.

Photominer worm spreads via insecure ftp servers