Supercomputers Across Europe Become Infected With Cryptocurrency Mining Malware

The decentralized nature of cryptocurrencies draws in various groups of people. Some of them there for good, and others to do bad. This weekend, we saw the latter occur.

According to a report from ZDNet, supercomputers around Europe were infected with malware that used these devices to mine cryptocurrency. Most notably, these reports came from the United Kingdom, Germany, and Switzerland, among other spaces. Spain is also a victim.

As a result, these computers had to be shut down for the time being.

While the affected spaces kept details under wraps, the Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT) in Europe, a group that keeps tabs on supercomputers, found samples and released them for others to examine.

According to examinations from Cado Security, the hackers gained access to the super computers via SSH credentials, stolen from university students. Experts believe the same bad actor carried out each attack.

Recently, as InsideBitcoins has previously reported on, tons of over 35,000 computers in Latin America were infected with similar malware. An excerpt form the article:

“The Hacker News, an aptly named hacking news outlet, stated that the “Victory Gate” crypto-malware botnet has spread across Latin America. According to the news outlet, it’s been spreading there ever since 2019’s early days. Since May of 2019, however, the malware had spread across more than 35,000 Windows computers, infecting them all with a crypto mining botnet.”