OODA Loop – Malicious CuteBoi cryptomining campaign detailed

Researchers have disclosed what they say could be an attempt to kick-off a new large-scale cryptocurrency mining campaign targeting the NPM JavaScript package repository. The malicious activity, attributed to a software supply chain threat actor dubbed CuteBoi, involves an array of 1,283 rogue modules that were published in an automated fashion from over 1,000 different user accounts. “This was done using automation which includes the ability to pass the NPM 2FA challenge,” Israeli application security testing company Checkmarx said. “This cluster of packages seems to be a part of an attacker experimenting at this point.” All the released packages in question are said to harbor near-identical source code from an already existing package named eazyminer that’s used to mine Monero by means of utilizing unused resources on web servers. One notable modification entails the URL to which the mined cryptocurrency should be sent, although installing the rogue modules will not bring about a negative effect.