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Ethereum was one of the hardest-hit cryptocurrencies in the bear market this year. His concerns are not at all distant as mining hardware has been targeted by hackers trying to cash in before prices fall even further.
In a recent report, ZDnet revealed that hackers have unleashed a large-scale scanning network designed to hit the Ethereum portfolios and mining hardware. The campaign has been running for at least a week since December 3, according to information security researchers.
The specific goal is port 8545, which is the standard port for the JSON-RPC interface used by the Ethereum portfolios and the data mining hardware. The API interface allows locally installed apps and services to scan data for funds and data mining.
Some less secure portfolios and mining machinery leave this interface publicly exposed through the door which can therefore be compromised. By default, the interface does not have a password set and is based on the user configuration. If the hackers left exposed can exploit the door to access the interface and raise cryptocurrencies from the wallet.
This is not a new threat, however, as the Ethereum team issued an alert in August on an unsafe configured Ethereum client. Recommendations included protecting the interface password or filtering traffic through the port using a firewall.
A number of rig suppliers have already taken steps to mitigate the problem by completely removing the interface or limiting the use of port 8545. However, there are still many vulnerable Ethereum clients online and the scans are increasing .
According to Chinese computer security company Qihoo 360 Netlab, over 20 million dollars in Ethereum in July, the exchange rate has already been stolen by a group. When the encryption prices increased, it was expected that scans and attacks would also increase.
What is surprising this time is that there has been an increase in scans despite the price of Ether which has included what some have described as a spiral of death. "Despite the price of cryptocurrency crashing into the gutter, free money is still free, even if it's a penny a day," Bad Packets LLC co-founder Toy Mursch told ZDnet.
The scan activity has tripled in the last week according to the information security company. Further research shows that nearly 4,700 devices, mostly Geth's mining equipment and Parity portfolios, are currently exposing their 8545 port.
Cryptocurrency prices may be on the floor, but this does not deter hackers from paying attention and looking for opportunities to get free loot.
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