Security researchers from Minerva Labs discovered the new strain of crypto mining malware that utilizes PowerShell code for getting access to fileless execution and disable other mining apps from the host for maximum potential. However, despite using the most out of their wit, the creator(s) of the miner program earned merely $200.

According to experts, after running a week-long campaign, the mining campaign, codenamed “GhostMiner”, only earned 1.03 Monero. This is quite smaller than the amounts that hackers earned by exploiting Jenkins RCE flaw (about $3 million).

GhostMiner advanced tricks

Although it sounds pretty funny and a matter of sorrow, GhostMiner is more than that. The failure of earning money doesn’t judge the severity this campaign poses.

For the first time, it appears to be one of its kind. GhostMiner was using fileless execution technique. This method is on the rise in the recent years of malware. It allows a program to run directly from the memory, instead of leaving any file in the disk. This leaves most of the classic antivirus programs for the blind. Fileless execution isn’t a new method, but using it inside GhostMiner tells us that the creator(s) of this campaign put a lot of effort in it.

GhostMiner targeting several servers

For running the mining task, the process needs a hardware. In this scenario, GhostMiner is targeting phpMyAdmin, MS SQL, and Oracle WebLogic servers. However, according to the experts of Minerva Labs, during their analysis, the campaign was only active on Oracle WebLogic servers.

GhostMiner scanned for random IP addresses for WebLogic servers and get access to the server’s system by using the CVE-2017-10271 exploit. After the system is compromised, the program runs 2 PowerShell scripts for launching it into fileless execution mode. After this step, it downloads the additional mining components and a self-defense mechanism.

In addition, GhostMiner also contained a large database of all other processes that would mine in the system. The malware would scan the system and terminate those processes for getting more free hardware resource on the infected host.

Besides GhostMiner, there were more campaigns targeting Oracle WebLogic servers and one of them successfully earned around $226,000 in revenue.

Thanks to GhostMiner creator(s), security researchers developed a PowerShell script using the mining software database found in GhostMiner. The script will help you get rid of all the currently known coin mining processes. You can get the script from GitHub.

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• CGminer: CGminer is one of the most used mining software. It is based on the original code of miner’s PC so it uses the command prompt as the user interface. The most important features of CGminer includes:
  • Fan speed control,
  • Multi GPU support,
  • CPU mining support, and so on.

To know more about CGminer, check out the community forum.

• BFGminer: BFGminer is almost similar to the CGminer. Actually, it’s hard to determine the differences between these two miners. But, unlike CGminer, it’s an ASIC Miner written in C language. It supports on Windows, Ubuntu, Debian, Gentoo and Debian Operating System. The most important features of BFGMiner which fits as the best mining software are:
  • dynamic clocking,
  • remote interface capability, and
  • monitoring.

To know more about BFGMiner, visit the BittoinTalk thread.

• BitMiner: BitMiner is not a popular miner like CGminer or BFGMiner, but there are reasons to bring this to you. It does a great job as a mining software by attracting new users. It first appeared in 2011 with more than 450000 registered users. If you want to mine as the part of a pool, BitMiner should be your first choice. It has more than 5464Thps computing power.

To sign up on BitMiner, visit their Official website.

• Bitcoin Miner: Bitcoin Miner is a Windows Store application to mine. In other words, it works with Windows 10 and Windows 8.1. GroupFebric Inc offers this user-friendly and easy to use miner Microsoft Store. It has power saving option and offers profit reports, fast share submission and pool support features. And the most important thing is, the GroupFebric Inc. designed this application for everyone including a non-technical person. For its user interface, it’s probably the right choice as the best mining software.

To download Bitcoin Miner visit Windows Store.

• RPC Miner: On the contrary, RPC Miner is the most popular miner for MacOS users. RPC Miner is a CPU based miner for individuals. It has different versions to support different GPUs. Important features of RPC Miner includes:
  • Multi GPU support,
  • CUDA miner for NVidia GPU
  • OpenCL miner for ATI GPU,
  • 4Way CPU miner.
• EasyMiner: EasyMiner is another miner with a graphical user interface. It can work as a wrapper for BFGMiner and CGminer. You can’t imagine how EasyMiner changed the mining world so simple and easier. With its GUI and advanced features as:
  • a graphical control panel,
  • power saving option,
  • real-time statistics,
  • personal wallet and many more.

To know more about the EasyMiner, visit their official website.

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