The new cyberattack on the horizon
Posted: Wed Jan 08, 2025 3:31 am
The cyberattack using the WannaCry extortion software , the same one that has put hundreds of thousands of computers in jeopardy this weekend around the world, could just be a distraction tactic by cybercriminals.
Experts at online security firm Proofpoint have identified the preludes to what could be a new and deadly cyberattack that is closely related to WannyCry .
And like the latter, “it also takes advantage of security holes previously detected by the NSA ,” says Monika Shaufler, executive at Proofpoint.
Two employees of this company developed, together with the British Marcus Hutchins, a patch that initially put a stop to the spread of WannaCry this past weekend.
Adylkuzz, is quite different in nature. This attack pursues a completely different objective than WannaCry and is doing its thing in a hidden manner.
Computers infected with Adylkuzz use the virtual currency Monero as an extortion tool, “which is much more profitable than WannyCry,” Schufler said.
Monero is a cryptocurrency that works similarly to Bitcom and is commonly bulgaria phone number used on the Darknet , an anonymous section of the Internet of Networks, to trade drugs, credit cards, and counterfeit goods.
Users of computers infected with Adylkuzz, a much more subtle attack than WannaCry , only notice that their computers run slightly slower.
“We suspect that WannaCry could have been used to divert attention from Adylkuzz,” Schaufler said.
Proofpoint experts believe that Adylkuzz could have contributed to stopping the attacks perpetrated by WannyCry, since it would have blocked port 445 , which has largely made this cyberattack possible.
According to data from Proofpoint, Adylkuzz began its attacks on May 2 and has already infected tens of thousands of computers around the world. To combat this cyberattack, affected computers must install Microsoft security updates as soon as possible.
Experts at online security firm Proofpoint have identified the preludes to what could be a new and deadly cyberattack that is closely related to WannyCry .
And like the latter, “it also takes advantage of security holes previously detected by the NSA ,” says Monika Shaufler, executive at Proofpoint.
Two employees of this company developed, together with the British Marcus Hutchins, a patch that initially put a stop to the spread of WannaCry this past weekend.
Adylkuzz, is quite different in nature. This attack pursues a completely different objective than WannaCry and is doing its thing in a hidden manner.
Computers infected with Adylkuzz use the virtual currency Monero as an extortion tool, “which is much more profitable than WannyCry,” Schufler said.
Monero is a cryptocurrency that works similarly to Bitcom and is commonly bulgaria phone number used on the Darknet , an anonymous section of the Internet of Networks, to trade drugs, credit cards, and counterfeit goods.
Users of computers infected with Adylkuzz, a much more subtle attack than WannaCry , only notice that their computers run slightly slower.
“We suspect that WannaCry could have been used to divert attention from Adylkuzz,” Schaufler said.
Proofpoint experts believe that Adylkuzz could have contributed to stopping the attacks perpetrated by WannyCry, since it would have blocked port 445 , which has largely made this cyberattack possible.
According to data from Proofpoint, Adylkuzz began its attacks on May 2 and has already infected tens of thousands of computers around the world. To combat this cyberattack, affected computers must install Microsoft security updates as soon as possible.