Over the past year, we've witnessed a shift in malware used by both the common criminal, and targeted actor alike. While ransomware was the bell of the ball in the past, it has been replaced with the up and coming cryptocurrency miner. This talk will explore the trends witnessed in the past year as they pertain to the rise in popularity of cryptocurrency miners being used and deployed by criminals. We'll talk about how and why this transition has occurred, as well as a number of interesting case studies about how this malware winds up on a victim's machine. Finally, we'll also discuss the most popular cryptocurrencies being mined today, and strategies you can take to mitigate this threat.
Josh Grunzweig is a Principal Malware Researcher with Unit 42, the threat intelligence team within Palo Alto Networks. His specialties include reverse-engineering various malware families, dabbling in Python scripting, and he has even been known to thwart ransomware and find vulnerabilities in malware panels from time to time. He has historically focused on financially-motivated malware, such as point of sale malware, ransomware, and banking Trojans, however, these days he pretty much looks at most malware-based threats. His previous work has included various areas within the information technology industry, including penetration testing, network administration, and systems administration. He graduated from the Rochester Institute of Technology with a BS in Applied Networking and Systems Administration.