Monero Launches Initiative to Combat Cryptocurrency Mining Malware

Earlier this week, the Monero (XMR) community announced the launch of a new website that aims to educate users on cleaning up crypto-jacking malware and ransomware.

Easing Malware Victims’ Confusion and Frustration

The ease of mining and privacy of Monero are standout features for the coin. However, the features attract bad actors who use the coin in malware.

Justin Ehrenhofer, the director of the Malware Response Workgroup, told CCN that two main factors make XMR attractive to hackers:

“Attackers like Monero for two reasons: 1) it is private, so they do not need to worry about companies and law enforcement tracing what they do with the Monero after they mine it, and 2) Monero uses a Proof of Work (PoW) algorithm that is CPU and GPU-friendly; thus, the infected machines are competitive. These two components are increasingly distinguishing factors for why attackers choose to mine Monero over other cryptocurrencies.”

The capability to use cryptocurrency in malware is not…