It seems that 2017 is going to happen with the year of malware. If not long ago we knew and suffered the effects of WannaCry, the malware that affected large companies like Telefónica, now we know a new malware that affects our lives, but in this case to our Raspberry Pi.
This malware is called Linux.MulDrop.14 and is characterized by use our Raspberry Pi board to practice bitcoin mining, but the results will not be for us but for private accounts. For this use, the malware relies on a security hole that Raspbian OS has.
From the Raspberry Pi Foundation it is recommended update the Raspbian OS distribution, with which the inclusion of this malware is solved. Despite all this, there are still hundreds of thousands of Raspberry Pi boards that are vulnerable to this security hole.
Raspbian OS has already been updated to correct the bug that allows the entry of this malware
Another of the solutions or precautions to take in order not to be affected by this malware is change both the password and the user «pi», since one of the first measures that the malware does is to change the privileges and password of this user to control the use of the board. The security of our board also goes through using the SSH protocol or not. Malware Linux.MulDrop.14 makes use of the SSH protocol to do the mining, so disabling the protocol makes our board more secure than before.
Malware Linux.MulDrop.14 has already raised $ 43.000 in cryptocurrencies, something interesting for the creators of the malware, but it is also something very bad for the users of the Raspberry Pi boards who see how the power and performance of their boards will be diminished by this fraudulent use.
Raspberry Pi can be used and has been used for cryptocurrency mining, but in this case, the crime is in the improper use of our board, a use that we do not consent to. Therefore, it is best to take the above precautions Do not you think?
This is why it is so important to keep systems up-to-date, fortunately in Linux there is not much more to do to keep them safe.
It is also important not to use passwords that everyone uses.