Tone.exe

Tone.exe has been classified by cybersecurity experts as Trojan malware. Trojan threats can be programmed to perform numerous invasive actions on the infected system and are considered to be extremely threatening. Indeed, attackers can use a Trojan to establish a hidden backdoor connection to the system, giving them access for a prolonged period. Depending on the specific goals of the cybercriminal organization, they may use a Trojan as a mid-stage threat tasked with the delivery of the final payloads to the targeted devices. The hackers may deploy ransomware, spyware, keyloggers, data-collection threats and more.

When it comes to tone.exe specifically, users may notice that this process is visible in the system's Task Manager and it is taking up exorbitant amounts of hardware resources. The reason for this is that the threat is mainly used by attackers as a crypto-mining payload. It will hijacker the resources of the compromised device and use them to mine for a particular cryptocurrency (Ethereum, Monero, Darkcoin, etc.).

As a result of the threat's activities, the system may become unusable completely, due to a lack of free CPU or GPU output. Even normal tasks, such as opening your browser could now need ages to complete. Apart from the significantly diminished user experience on the device, tone.exe also could tamper with the default security services to stop them from interfering with its actions.

While crypto-miners do not pose any direct threat to the computer, their actions are not without consequences. The extensive workload and pressure put on the hardware could lead to crashes or severe malfunctions, due to the rising CPU or GPU temperatures. As such, if you notice anything strange with the way your system is performing, it is crucial to scan it with a reputable anti-malware solution as soon as possible.