In most cases, when hackers hack into a high profile company, they do so with intentions of stealing data.
They do this because company secrets can often be obtained and then sold to the highest bidder on the black market. Or, in some cases, technology companies are hacked by state-backed actors in order to gain a peak into the company's technology or intel.
However, neither of those seem to be the motivations for the latest rounds of hacking.
The security intelligence group Redlock released a report that found at least two different companies had their AWS cloud services hacked by people who wanted nothing more than to use the gained computing power to mine Bitcoin.
Yes, you read that right.
Hackers are hacking companies in order to use their computing power to mine some extra Bitcoins.
How did they do it?
According to the report, hackers ultimately got access to Amazon's cloud servers after discovering that administrative consoles were not password protected.
Specifically, it was revealed that hackers were running a Bitcoin mining command from one of the Kubernetes containers.
Kubernetes is an opensource technology that makes it simpler to write apps for the cloud.
The hackers basically stole expensive space in corporate cloud storage in order to run their Bitcoin mining software.
Who was affected?
The two companies mentioned in the report were Aviva and Gemalto.
Both are large international companies.
Aviva and Gelmalto were notified by Redlock when the issues were discovered.
Neither has commented publicly on the findings.
Why did the hackers do it?
The simplest answer is that they did it because of the price of Bitcoin.
Which is currently sitting around $4500 per coin.
Mining Bitcoin is very energy intensive and very costly in terms of electricity used (at least in most places).
With Bitcoin being up near $4500 per coin, it is profitable to mine. Especially if you can find a way to cut out the costs, like these hackers did.
It's not just hackers though...
People have been finding all sorts of creative ways to mine Bitcoin since the price explosion earlier this year.
In fact, employees have even been fired for mining Bitcoin at work.
Two government IT workers in Crimea were fired a few weeks ago for mining Bitcoin from their work computers.
With Bitcoin inching higher, I expect we will hear about more and more instances like this where people are finding new and creative ways of mining the currency profitably.
Stay informed my friends.
Sources:
http://www.businessinsider.com/hackers-broke-into-amazon-cloud-to-mine-bitcoin-2017-10
Image Sources:
https://www.genesis-mining.com/how-to-mine-bitcoin
http://newatlas.com/shadow-brokers-data-subscription-plan/49791/
https://qz.com/1026605/photos-chinas-bitcoin-mines-and-miners/
Follow me: @jrcornel
There hackers aren't very savvy! Why in the hell would you mine Bitcoin with a bunch of hacked servers when you could mine plenty of other alts like Monero that far more profitable?
Hey jrcornel,
Thanks for the great content
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und danke dir für deinen Lendingbot :D
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Mining can be done any where.
Interesting times indeed.....don't worry about your personal info, worry that your computing power will be stolen. We are seeing some shifts in society aren't we? Brave new world.
It kind of a paradigm shift when hackers break into systems not to steal or blackmail anyone, but to lend some computer hardware.
Important to emphasize that both "hacks" were the result of insecure passwords... Being prudent with digital security isn't hard, it's mostly about good password protection.
Much obliged for the colossal substance
@jrcornel thanks for this upload,do you have any further information you could shre with Community, I think everyone should know this because me and several others in this Community use Amazon, I appreciate your good work,I follow you,greetings.
Wonder how much Hash power amazon have haha
nice post i like it
Hackers are breaking the systems for profit. Before, it was about intellectual curiosity and pursuit of knowledge and thrill, and now hacking is big business.
Jusy like DDoS attack that happens in steemit lately?
I always wonder how things would be if all the knowledge and ingenuity used for hacking was used for positive things.
Hiii @jrcornel, very informative and valuable update you shared thanks for that. Nice article about hackers, thanks a lot sir, your efforts for community are appreciated and much impressive,,.
False flag, it is Amazon just preparing for 26th October conference announcement, bitcoin will be accepted
Wonder what the future holds....
John McAfee predicted Bitcoin mining hacks would occur to use cpu for mining. He also predicts that hackers will mine Bitcoin by hacking into the network of billions of smart appliances now throughout the world with little to no security in place. This will go unnoticed in the appliances and is not a threat to them but is a real threat to Bitcoin.
I'm not sure exactly how much hashing a cloud server could manage, but I do doubt it was worth the effort of trying in the first place. More likely this was a hacker challenge to prove the concept rather then for real gain. It does make you wonder though if hackers will deliberately target bitcoin mining in general - hacking into other people's mining equipment and changing the pool and workers to the hackers could be very profitable - especially if it takes the owner of the equipment some time to notice!
Thanks for the info, never knew that bitcoin could be mined from amazon.
nice post
Hackers are extremely gifted I just read an article about some Ethereum hackers that was able to gain access into an ICOs entire holdings for a test of security & they managed to breach it. Scary & ingenius at the same time
Interesting but isnt reliable
Not True. A fake
a debt of gratitude is in order for this upload,do you have any additional data you could shre with Community, I figure everybody should know this since me and a few others in this Community utilize Amazon, I value your great work,I take after you,greetings
Wow I wouldn’t have thought they would be so bold and not think they would get caught.
Pff, hacking and mining, seems a wedding ,...those "belong" to eachother ,.. its a pity,.. but it always be the case,...
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They do this job as Amazon Free Trial.
Linux system is installed and BTC mining is being done. The system is very simple and people get serious money with this method by continuously trialing. The system does not recognize and prohibits users. But this never stops the greedy people.
If i were them it would be monero or dash so they can't track me
Imagine if Amazon did mining themselves...
Great content! Thx
Thanks your great content
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I'm familiar with this to be honest. Nothing I'm proud of being around 2011 I remember installing miners on some computers in the school I was attending then. Ultimately, I decided to delete them all before being caught and I have no idea where my wallet from that era is.
But lesson learnt is, if you're determined enough you can find an ethical way to mine and profit from cryptocurrencies. Whether it's Proof of Work or Proof of Brain like it is here on Steemit.
Thanks for the post @jrcornel
may be the only way to prevent this is to stop POW type of mining .
it will be good for the environment as well.
I really think, we , the crypto communities should really urge all coins to move away from POW to something more environmental friendly methods...
Great article, thank you :)
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