Exploiting Kobe Bryant's Death, Hackers Use Wallpapers To Spread Malware

The death of the legendary NBA player Kobe Bryant came unexpectedly. And here, hackers are taking advantage of the situation.

“While the world mourns the loss of an NBA legend, cyber criminals are, as expected, taking advantage of the tragedy,” said the researchers at Microsoft Security Intelligence, who discovered a downloadable desktop wallpaper of Bryant with a hidden cryptojacking malware.

The malware in question allows the hackers to use victims' computer processing power in order to mine cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin, without their knowledge.

“We found a malicious HTML file posing as a Kobe Bryant wallpaper that contains a coin mining script.”

The malware has even been found in some websites, with visitors infected the moment they click on a link.

The malware is called the Trojan:HTML/Brocoiner.N!lib.

On its malware encyclopedia description page, Microsoft said that the malware can be found on malicious and compromised websites, including sites that offer streaming videos, adult content, and online shopping. It utilizes JavaScript to load itself, and can automatically mine Monero or other cryptocurrency.

"This mining activity, often initiated without user consent, consumes resources and can slow down affected PCs."

For the worst part, this malware can stay completely hidden so victims won't even know why their computer is slowing down.

The intelligence team of the Redmond giant has taken action to prevent the malware from spreading. According to the company, Windows Defender SmartScreen tool has been updated to detect and block the website hosting the malware-laced Bryant wallpaper.

And for removing the malware, Microsoft said that users can use Windows Defender for Windows 10 and Windows 8.1, or Microsoft Security Essentials for Windows 7 and Windows Vista, as well as Microsoft Safety Scanner.

Reliable antivirus software, especially the one that has cryptojacking definitions in its virus libraries, should also do the trick.

Cryptocurrency mining is the process of verifying cryptojacking transactions and adding them into the blockchain ledger, which results in being rewarded with a certain amount of the currency in question.

However, the process is CPU intensive and can be costly.

This is why hackers have started using cryptojacking techniques, where they put malware on someone else' computer to hijack and use it covertly to generate cryptocurrencies. As a result, the victim's computer can have its performance impacted, sometimes severely.

Cryptojacking has become an increasingly popular method for hackers because it can be very difficult to spot for people unfamiliar with the cyber attack’s methods.

There have also been cases where hackers hide cryptojacking malware inside fake apps, including Flash updates.

Before Bryant's wallpaper and most recently, hackers have used Taylor Swift wallpapers to also spread the malicious cryptocurrency miners.

Cyber security firm Sonicwall has registered more than 50 million cryptojacking attacks in the first half of 2019, typically in the form of social engineering or other online scams.

Further reading: The Washington Post Fired A Reporter Who Tweeted Kobe Bryant Rape Case, Hours After His Death