Microsoft Removes 8 Windows Apps After Cryptojacking Malware Was Detected

Major software corporation Microsoft removed eight Windows 10 apps from the app store after the Symantec cybersecurity company identified sneaky Monero mining code and in today’s crypto news we see how the malware was detected.

Cryptojacking works by installing malware that will eventually use your computer’s processing power in order to mine cryptocurrencies without the owner of the computer’s knowledge. Symantec first detected a monero mining code in eight apps that were issued by three developers. After Symantec notified Microsoft, the software giant removed all of the products immediately.

All of the apps were in the top free app section such as battery optimization app, web browsers, and video viewing apps issue by ‘’DigiDream, 1clean and Findoo’’ developers. However, Symantec believes that the apps were created by the same person or group and not by three different entities.

All of the apps run on Windows 10 and were published between April and December last year. They work by triggering the Google Tag Manager and are later able to fetch a coin-mining JavaScript library. Once this is activated, the CPU cycle is hijacked and is able to mine XMR for the app developers.

Symantec representatives said that this is the first time a cryptojacking malware is found on the Microsoft store. Also, the company noted that the suspect apps all had legit privacy policies but never mentioned cryptocurrency mining. The cybersecurity company also says that they are not able to determine the statistics precisely on how many app download and installation there were but it seems that the app has about 2000 ratings.

Microsoft also removed the mining JavaScript from Google Tag Manager.