It’s the review we always welcome: AV-Comparatives conducts independent tests throughout the year to take a hard look at 21 security products for Windows, putting them through rigorous testing that examines their ability to 1) protect against real-world internet threats, 2) identify thousands of recent malicious programs, 3) provide protection without slowing down the PC, and finally, 4) remove malware that has already infected a PC.
It’s staggering to realize that Bitcoin, the very first cryptocurrency, splashed onto the scene almost a decade ago. It’s only been over this past year that digital coinage has really gained its tremendous popularity. As of January 2018, there are well over one thousand varieties of cryptocurrency in circulation — Bitcoin, Monero, Ethereum, Ripple, Litecoin, IOTA and many more.
The good news is that Avast users are protected against cryptomining, which includes the current threat terrorizing the world’s Windows servers and computers. The Smominru botnet has torn through hundreds of thousands of servers and computers alike, hijacking their CPU power to mine the cryptocurrency Monero. ZDNet reports that the Smominru botnet mines 24 Monero ($8,500) a day, with a net total to date of 8,900 Monero ($2.8M - $3.6M).
Cyberattacks are continuing to increase in number and severity every year, and 2018 will be no exception. We believe that many of the threats we observed in 2017 will, unfortunately, appear in evolved forms this year to continue threatening our businesses, personal data, and privacy via attacks on our PCs, smartphones and IoT devices. After all, as trends in politics, society, and technology evolve, so does cybercrime.
Update Monday, January 29, 2018 4:00 PM CET: Arenavision reached out to Avast on Twitter, claiming their site was hacked on January 16, 2018. Avast reexamined the JQuery file and can confirm the site is now clean and does not contain any mining algorithms. The below post has been updated to reflect this.
