Microsoft's cyber threat investigation team discovered malware for hidden mining in a desktop wallpaper featuring basketball player Kobe Bryant who died last week in a plane crash.
Related: Student faces 5 years in prison for hidden mining
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
“Cyber criminals are expected to benefit from the tragedy. Wallpaper with Kobe Bryant turned out to be an HTML file containing a script for mining coins, ”the company noted.
Experts have determined that the malware is a Trojan: HTML Brocoiner.N! Lib. The Microsoft Defender antivirus SmartScreen filter allows you to block the site on which the miner is located.
The script code mentions “CoinHive,” the common Monero cryptocurrency hidden mining software that was discontinued in early March 2019.
Earlier, TRON founder Justin Sun used a tweet about the death of a basketball player to advertise the niTROn summit. In a January 26 tweet, he expressed condolences over the death of the player in a plane crash, but he twice mentioned the niTROn blockchain summit in it. A similar post with the summit tag was published by Tron Foundation.