Cybercriminals are seeking to benefit from Kobe Bryant’s passing by planting malicious code inside the basketball legend’s downloaded wallpaper.
Microsoft Security Intelligence researchers have found that Bryant’s wallpaper supposed to include embedded code which unknowingly hijacked a person’s machine to dig cryptocurrencies which helps cybercriminals to utilize the processing power of the user to handle cryptocurrency such as bitcoins.
According to Microsoft Researchers:
While the world mourns the loss of an NBA legend, cybercriminals are, as expected, taking advantage of the tragedy. We found a malicious HTML file posing as a Kobe Bryant wallpaper that contains a coin mining script. pic.twitter.com/w2JwPvqFy5
— Microsoft Security Intelligence (@MsftSecIntel) January 30, 2020
Many sites have also discovered the malicious code, with visitors compromised as soon as they click on the link. It can typically be seen in the volume of processing power a computer requires when there is a sudden jump.
Cryptojacking has emerged as an incredibly widely known way for cybercriminals to gain money, as it can be very difficult for those unfamiliar with the techniques of cyber targeting to find.
Previously, this type of malware was found inside high-resolution photographs of singer Taylor Swift and actress Scarlett Johansson.
