Hackers Launch Widespread Botnet Attack on Crypto Wallets Using Cheap Russian Malware

With millions of dollars of cryptocurrency stolen from crypto wallets every year, security researchers were surprised to find one active botnet being run for about $160.

The bargain Trojan malware is called MasterMana Botnet, which uses mass mailing to send phishing emails with attachments containing malicious code to crypto investors. Once someone clicks on the email, the code will create backdoors on their computer to empty their wallets, according to a recent research conducted by Prevailion.

“Based on what we’ve observed, the MasterMana Botnet had a global impact on organizations across a wide variety of verticals,” Danny Adamitis, intelligence director at Prevailion, told CoinDesk.

“We assess that the Botnet was interacting with approximately 2,000 machines a week, or 72,000 machines over the course of 2019, based on the snapshot we observed,” Adamitis said.

The research saw references in the code that indicated the threat actors could have Trojanized a…