Hackers Hide Crypto Mining Script Behind Kobe Bryant Wallpaper

A new story is viral in the cryptocurrency news, showing how hackers hide crypto mining script behind a new Kobe Bryant wallpaper. The group of cybercriminals are capitalizing on the death of basketball legend and as a tweet by Microsoft Security Intelligence on January 31 shows, they are hiding malicious html code which contains a cryptojacking script in desktop wallpaper of the NBA all-time great.

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

For those of you who don’t know, cryptojacking is a practice where cybercriminals hijack processing power from other computers to mine cryptocurrencies remotely. Following the tragic death in the helicopter crash which claimed the lives of Bryant, his 13-year old daughter and seven other occupants, there has been an increased interest in the start from fans and the general public.

A lot unsurprising is the fact that it did not long for cyber criminals to take advantage of the death of the basketball superstar. The hackers hide crypto mining scripts behind the wallpapers in times when an increasing number of people search for information and images of the star as a crop of potential victims.

The Microsoft team found the malicious HTML file named Trojan.HTML/Brocoiner.N!lib with the Defender Virus Protection software. This is how the coin mining script was disguised as a desktop wallpaper which featured the image of Bryant. Also, the website which hosted the coin miner was blocked by the software.

As many reported, the death of Bryant is now also in the Bitcoin scams news, bringing an outpouring of grief from many across social media. This included a personal account from the founder of Tron, Justin Sun.

What many don’t know is the fact that Bryant was a huge supporter of crypto and Tron in particular, discussing the future of blockchain with Sun on stage at the niTRON conference back in 2019.

As a gesture of respect, the founder of TRON announced that this year’s niTRON conference would be dedicated to the basketball star. Still, given Sun’s prior history of dubious promotional methods, some people on social media were quick to criticize the move and labeled it as a shameless cash-in.

Now that hackers hide mining softwares as viruses in files such as wallpapers, it is evident that everyone should be careful about who they share their details with on the Internet.