<span style="font-weight: 400">People behind cybercrime have not hesitated to cash in on the tragic death of</span><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kobe_Bryant"> <span style="font-weight: 400">Kobe Bryant</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400">, who was an American professional basketball player. Microsoft Security Intelligence has recently found a crypto-mining script in the late basketball player's wallpaper photograph.  </span>
<blockquote class="twitter-tweet">
<p dir="ltr" lang="en">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. <a href="https://t.co/w2JwPvqFy5">pic.twitter.com/w2JwPvqFy5</a></p>
— Microsoft Security Intelligence (@MsftSecIntel) <a href="https://twitter.com/MsftSecIntel/status/1223032390555033600?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">January 30, 2020</a></blockquote>
<h2><b>The Use Of Steganography</b></h2>
<span style="font-weight: 400">Steganography has been used by bad actors. It is an ancient method of hiding a file within another file, to conceal crypto-mining script within the photos of notable people. The crypto-mining script has victimized several celebrities. According to some reports, MyKingz, a mining botnet was recently discovered in an image of Taylor Swift, a popular American pop star. Her picture included an .EXE file that, if executed, could use victim's computer resources to mine privacy coin</span><a href="https://www.cryptoknowmics.com/tag/monero/"> <span style="font-weight: 400">Monero</span></a><span style="font-weight: 400"> (XMR). Hackers also have concealed malware in an image of Scarlett Johansson, an actress who was nominated for Oscar. </span>
<h2><b>Why Celebrity Images Are On Target</b></h2>
<span style="font-weight: 400">While it might be puzzling many on why hackers would seek the photos of these celebrities, this has actually been one of the most natural ways to install the crypto-mining script on one's computer. Only a few antivirus software had been able to identify such malicious code in authentic image files, which plays right into the hands of hackers.  </span>

<span style="font-weight: 400">The crypto-mining scripts were not just games and fun for cybercriminals. Cryptojacking has always been a very lucrative business with MyKingz creators through which they earned about $2.3 million.</span>
<h2><b>Cryptojacking Has Become A Major Concern</b></h2>
<span style="font-weight: 400">Cryptojacking or illegal crypto-mining has become a significant concern. There have also been some cases that came from US Department of Justice (DOJ), in which some citizens have stealthily mined cryptocurrency on computers of other people and sold the personal data of their victims on the dark web for years. Also, Monero (XMR) was mined stealthily through eight cryptojacking apps that were already removed from Microsoft Store.</span>

Microsoft Discovers Crypto Mining Script in Kobe Bryant's Photo

The crypto-mining scripts were not just games and fun for cybercriminals. Cryptojacking has always been a very lucrative business with MyKingz creators.

Shailesh is an ardent follower of the crypto world and keenly watches every development taking place in the cryptocurrency space. He loves to voice his opinions through well-curated blogs and articles, which throw light on different facets of the crypto industry.

Microsoft Discovers Crypto Mining Script in Kobe Bryant's Photo

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