A 13 minute video from Sophos (no login/registration needed) with QnA
https://nakedsecurity.sophos.com/2018/01/31/what-are-wannamine-attacks-and-how-do-i-avoid-them/
Q. Is WannaMine like WannaCry? Is it ransomware that scrambles my disk?
A. The name “WannaMine” is a portmanteau word that refers to a malware family that uses the network spreading capabilities of WannaCry to deliver cryptomining malware rather than ransomware.
Q. What is cryptomining malware? Is it as dangerous as ransomware?
A. Cryptomining is when crooks secretly get your computer to do the calculations needed to generate cryptocurrency, such as Bitcoin, Monero or Ethereum; the crooks keep any cryptocoin proceeds for themselves.
To make money with cryptomining, you need a lot of electricity to deliver a lot processing power on a lot of computers.
By illegally installing cryptominers inside your network, the crooks therefore steal your resources to do their work.
Q. Can cryptomining damage my computer?
A. We’ve seen stories of mobile phone batteries bulging due to overheating when the device was deliberately forced to do mining calculations for hours on end.
However, WannaMine doesn’t run on mobile phones – it attacks Windows computers.
Nevertheless, even if no permanent damage is done, you’ll probably find your laptop batteries draining much faster than usual, your fans running flat out, and your laptop being noticeably hotter than usual.
Also, if malware like WannaMine can penetrate your network, you are at serious risk of other malware at the same time, including ransomware.
We frequently see evidence of cryptomining left behind on computers that were zapped by ransomware, so don’t ignore WannaMine infections if they show up – where one crooks goes, others will surely follow.
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