Crypto-currency mining is one of the most popular search queries on Google. Everybody wants to get their hands on as many crypto-currencies as possible, and some even use dishonest strategies to reach their goal.

Microsoft recently revealed that a massive Dofoil campaign attempted to install malicious cryptocurrency miners on hundreds of thousands of Windows 10 computers.

Windows Defender saves the day

Fortunately, thanks to Windows Defender’s  advanced scanning capabilities and machine learning technologies, computers running Windows 10 were able to block this attack within milliseconds.

According to Microsoft’s report, BitTorrent client acted as a bridge to victims.

Microsoft’s investigation revealed that the attack which took place at the beginning of March had been carefully planned since mid-February. As security engineers explained, the attackers performed an update poisoning campaign that installed a trojanized version of MediaGet on users computers.

In the outbreak, which began in March 6, a pattern stood out: most of the malicious files were written by a process called mediaget.exe. This process is related to MediaGet, a BitTorrent client that we classify as potentially unwanted application (PUA).

The malware used Dofoil to deliver CoinMiner in order to use the victims’ computer resources to mine cryptocurrencies for the attackers.

Fortunately for users, the malicious process was quickly detected and blocked by Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection.

This event highlights once again the importance of using a powerful security software to protect your computer against the latest threats. For more information on the best tools to use to protect your machine, check out the articles listed below:

Windows Defender AV protected customers from the Dofoil outbreak at the onset. Behavior-based detection technologies flagged Dofoil’s unusual persistence mechanism and immediately sent a signal to the cloud protection service, where multiple machine learning models blocked most instances at first sight.

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If the advices above haven’t solved your issue, your PC may experience deeper Windows problems. We recommend downloading this PC Repair tool (rated Great on TrustPilot.com) to easily address them. After installation, simply click the Start Scan button and then press on Repair All.

Still having issues? Fix them with this tool:

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