Hackers infected smart TVs and phones and used them to mine for Monero, a cryptocurrency, researchers found.
James Martin/CNETHackers have infected thousands of Android phones and smart TVs and used the devices to mine for cryptocurrency, researchers at Chinese cybersecurity firm Netlab360 found.
The attack combines a handful of well known hacking techniques with one goal in mind: use the processing power of internet connected devices to create more Monero, a digital currency that can be replicated by running a program on a computerized device. According to ZDNet, the attack affected 7,000 devices in China. While that’s not as big as some recent networks of hacked devices — called botnets — security experts believe hackers will increasingly use this approach to make money off of other people’s computers, smart home devices, phones and tablets.
The attack that Netlab360 found takes advantage of an open port, or a point of contact where electronics connect to the internet. By searching for devices connected to port 5555, hackers found unsecured Android phones and TVs and infected them with malicious software. That software, also called a worm, then looks for more devices to infect.
Google didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
The researchers told ZDNet the hackers weren’t opening the port themselves, which would have been a much more worrying attack. “The 5555 ADB interfaces of those devices have already been opened before [they’re] infected,” the researchers said. “We have no idea about how and when this port was opened yet.”
With this network of infected devices, hackers ran the program to create, or mine for, more Monero. This gives hackers the computing power of thousands of devices they didn’t have to buy, power or connect to the internet themselves.
