The SecureWorks report reveals that the hacker targeted network attached storage (NAS) boxes made by Taiwan-based security solutions provider Synology and used its computing power to mine Dogecoin through a private pool. The action caused problems for Synology’s customers, some of whom reported poor performance on Facebook in February 2014.
Following reports of an issue, the investigators ultimately discovered a folder entitled ‘PWNED’ that contained the mining software CPUMiner and the capacity to conceal the program.
The address the mined Dogecoins were being sent to was also identified, revealing the accumulation of more than 400 million Dogecoins. Along with another wallet, the hacker generated roughly 500 million Dogecoins between January and April 2014.
The configuration file of the software that was infecting Synology’s NAS boxes pointed to the presence of hidden mining software. CPUMiner, the program used, had been modified to run on the boxes and was connecting to a Dogecoin pool not associated with any public mining group, SecureWorks said. Each NAS box acted as an individual miner, connecting to the pool and generating Dogecoins.
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