The famous hidden miner is progressing. Should Outlaw Be Afraid?
Cryptocurrencies cost a lot of money, and mining requires high computing power. The obvious scheme is clear to scammers who regularly invent new schemes for deception and their own earnings. However, there are well-established methods that have been used by digital robbers for a very long time. Of course, we are talking about hidden miners, more specifically – Outlaw. Today we will tell you about this scary program, and also give practical recommendations that will help you secure your own computers.
What is Outlaw?
First, a little about hidden mining. This process is aimed at illegally obtaining computing power from the victim’s computer. To direct the performance in the direction of interest to fraudsters, special software is used. Similar programs are called hidden miners. Software, most often, is installed by inattentive users on their own. For example, downloading a picture from a dubious resource and opening it, you are already at potential risk of picking up a hidden miner. It is not difficult to identify it, but it is quite difficult to completely remove it. The main symptom is a slowdown in the computer. All productivity goes to third-party operations, familiar actions become slower.
Among all the hidden miners, Outlaw can be distinguished, which is considered the most dangerous and common. The group behind the program operates victims’ computers to obtain Monero. It is difficult to track anonymous cryptocurrency, which means that hackers will go unpunished. More recently, Outlaw discovered a feature that was created to remove third-party miners. Thus, the malware removes its competitors, making full use of the victim’s technique. Note that Outlaw extends mainly to systems running Linux. Virus activity has been detected in China, the USA and Europe. Yes, of course, Outlaw’s main goal is large companies with weak security systems. But this does not mean that ordinary users are safe. Let’s figure out how to secure the computing capabilities of their own computers.
How to protect yourself from hidden miners?
In fact, everything is quite simple. There are a number of rules that actually most likely prevent infection by a hidden miner. Consider the main recommendations:
- Do not download from unknown sources. Perhaps banal advice, but many forget about it. Trust the installation of programs only to reliable sites that have established themselves as well-known and safe sources. Anti-virus will help you distinguish good sites from malicious ones;
- Check all files with the archiver. Modern progress has gone so far that the whole program can be cleverly disguised as an ordinary picture or text document. Make a habit of checking the ability to unzip a file, so you will find a hidden miner and many other viruses;
- Watch your performance closely. Having noticed a drop in speed, carefully study the speed of computing processes. All obscure applications that consume too many resources must be found and fixed on time;
Of course, serious viruses like Outlaw can bypass even the most complex defenses. But preventative measures are never superfluous, so use our recommendations. You can follow all the news of the crypto industry with us. We publish only high-quality, interesting material. Thank you for your attention, good luck!
