The skyrocketing cryptocurrency has dominated the headlines time and time again, and the increase in public interest in cryptocurrencies has also opened up a new way for malicious actors to hijack the compromised computer to provide computing power for profit.
Today, Microsoft and Intel jointly announced the use of the latter-based Threat Detection Technology (TDT) in Microsoft Defender to detect new features for malicious cryptocurrency mining programs.
Encryption hijacking is a malicious behavior in which an attacker installs malicious software on a host device and then uses computer resources to mine cryptocurrency, which affects performance, or simply steals cryptocurrency wallets. In some cases, this malware also spreads to other endpoints on the network like a worm.
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To solve this problem, Microsoft Defender for Endpoint will now use Intel’s TDT and CPU-based device learning algorithms to detect cryptocurrency hijacking.
The solution uses CPU telemetry and device learning heuristics to identify abnormal activities. Once it detects potentially malicious behavior, it sends a signal to the Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) mechanism, which in turn triggers a repair workflow to protect the infected PC and other devices on the network.
Karthik Selvaraj, chief security research manager at Microsoft, has the following views on the cooperation with Intel:
This partnership is an example of our continuous investment and in-depth cooperation with technology partners across the industry. We work closely with chip manufacturers to explore and adopt new hardware-based defense measures to provide strong and resilient protection against cyber threats. As companies seek to simplify their security investments, built-in platform-based security technologies, such as the integration of Intel TDT and Microsoft Endpoint Defender, combine the best varieties in a simplified solution.
Intel pointed out that TDT does not require customers to withstand performance shocks on their machines, because the technology can delegate performance-intensive security workloads to graphics controllers that are usually idle in the integrated CPU to reduce the impact on device performance.
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