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Cryptocurrency-mining malware-scum have started to write code that evicts rivals from compromised computers.
The miner in question was first noticed by SANS Internet Storm Center handler Xavier Mertens. Mertens spotted the PowerShell script on March 4, and noting that it kills any other CPU-greedy processes it spots on target machines, he wrote: “The fight for CPU cycles started!”
Pre-infection, the attack script checks whether a target machine is 32-bit or 64-bit and downloads files known to VirusTotal as hpdriver.exe or hpw64 (they're pretending to be HP drivers of some kind).
If successfully installed, the attack then lists running processes and kills any it doesn't like. Mertens noted that alongside ordinary Windows stuff, the list of death-marked processes includes many associated with cryptominers, some of which are listed below.
Mertens wrote that the script also checks for processes associated with security tools.
(Score: 2) by requerdanos on Wednesday March 07 2018, @10:00PM
This idea that there is "good" malware and "bad" malware is an excuse people use to run Windows [upgradefromwindows.com] in the first place.