RubyMiner

RubyMiner is based on XMRig, a known Monero miner. These programs are designed to use the infected computer's resources to mine cryptocurrency without the computer user's knowledge. While cryptocurrencies are mined using processing power and resources, the cybercrooks will often make money by installing these programs onto victim's computers covertly to make money while using up the victim's power and resources. The RubyMiner can be installed on the victim's computers in various ways. The most common way of delivering RubyMiner to the victims is by taking advantage of known vulnerabilities in commonly used software. The RubyMiner has been distributed in campaigns associated with p0f, a hacking tool that allows third parties to find vulnerable servers online.

PCs Housing RubyMiner will Slow-Down Greatly

Using tools like p0f, the cybercrooks can detect servers with poor security or vulnerabilities present in its framework. RubyMiner is installed on the targeted computer and registered as a native system service by taking advantage of these vulnerabilities. This will prevent security software and other local security measures from detecting and stopping RubyMiner. This can allow RubyMiner to operate for long periods on the infected computer without being detected. RubyMiner includes features that allow it to monitor the infected computer for known security programs that could interfere with RubyMiner, and to stop it by killing its processes. RubyMiner will use up as much as 70% of the infected computer's resources to mine Monero. This can cause numerous disruptions and performance issues on the infected computer, as well as consume large amounts of electricity to run the infected computer. The best way to protect servers from RubyMiner is to ensure that all software is patched and potential security holes such as open ports and plug-ins are patched up appropriately.

Symptoms of RubyMiner and Similar Threats

Since RubyMiner and similar threats are designed to use up the infected computer's resources to generate cryptocurrency and profits for the cybercrooks, most symptoms associated with RubyMiner and similar malware will occur in the way the affected computer performs. Increased temperatures and fan activity, as well as increased CPU loads and memory usage, are all signs of RubyMiner. A computer slowing down, becoming unstable, or crashing frequently also could indicate that RubyMiner or similar malware has been installed on the infected PC.

Why RubyMiner and Similar Malware can be So Harmful

RubyMiner is heavily based on XMRig, which has spawned many variants. Typically, these infections are very difficult to remove since they will be associated with rootkit components frequently. Computer users also may not be aware of the threat, just noting that their computers overheats or runs poorly. A security application that is fully up-to-date and has anti-rootkit capabilities is the best resource to ensure that RubyMiner does not remain on your computer for long. It is, however, necessary to note that cryptocurrency mining software itself is not threatening. In fact, this is how these resources are created, by using software to solve algorithms and 'mine' the currency. However, the wrong aspect comes into play when the cybercrooks will create components such as RubyMiner, which install the miner onto the victims' computers covertly, allowing to reap all the benefits of these cryptocurrency miners without investing any of the resources required to generate these profits. Cryptocurrency can be difficult to mine and, to make money, it will be necessary to have very powerful computers. Cybercrooks circumvent this requirement by instead installing RubyMiner on numerous computers around the world, using threat delivery techniques to infiltrate the victims' computers. Since RubyMiner seems to target servers specifically, RubyMiner can cause sufficient performance issues to disrupt networks or websites.