Prepare 'mentally' for an attack worse than WannaCry

Security experts say a larger and more insidious attack is underway, exploiting the same Windows vulnerability as the WannaCry malware.

The US National Security Agency (NSA) is said to have discovered a vulnerability in Microsoft's system and named it EternalBlue. In June 2016, the Shadow Brokers hacker group broke into the NSA and stole a large number of hacking tools, including the EternalBlue exploit, and published it on Wikileaks.

EternalBlue has been fully exploited by the WannaCry malware, causing fear for users around the world because it encrypts personal and business data and demands ransom.

While the security community is still trying to identify who is behind the WannaCry outbreak, cybersecurity firm Proofpoint continues to detect a new wave of attacks that exploit Microsoft vulnerabilities.

Instead of encrypting the data for ransom, the hackers quietly installed a cryptocurrency mining tool on the user's computer. They exploited the EternalBlue and DoublePulsar vulnerabilities to spread a program called Adylkuzz that mined the cryptocurrency Monero and sent it to the spreader's system.

Monero is an open-source digital currency that was released in 2014 and is currently priced at $28.44 per coin.To mine virtual currency, users exploit the computer's resources such as CPU, graphics card... to process complex calculations and generate virtual currency. This mining is done on computers, phones and on the web. One computer does not generate much money, but thousands of computers working together will generate a huge amount of money.

Adylkuzz's goal is to create a network of hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide to mine virtual currency for hackers. The malware does not control user data, but by exploiting computer resources such as CPU, it slows down the computer systems of users and businesses and will cause financial damage in the long run.

To avoid being attacked, users should install the latest security updates for Windows.

According to VNE