A recent discovery by security researchers has uncovered a long-employed crypto mining malware. According to reports, the malware has been found on over 1 million computers, and its Chinese crypto hackers have earned over $2 million by using it.

Chinese Crypto Hackers Busted: 2-Year-Long Hacking Scheme Comes to an End

The police in Da Lian, one of China’s cities, has just arrested around 20 individuals that are believed to be a large crypto hacking scheme. The suspects are all employed by the same firm, dedicated to computer technology. According to the local news outlet, the hackers took control of their own company’s computers, and have been mining cryptos illegally ever since.

The very same Chinese crypto hackers were supposedly responsible for creating the malware that was used. They even managed to include it in one of the browser plugins that was created for various reasons. They claimed that the plug-ins would increase the browsing speed, which has caused a large interest and has been displayed to over 5 million computers in China.

However, only 1 million actually added it to their device. These devices are now believed to be infected with the crypto mining malware, and over the course of two years, the malware managed to mine a total of 26 million coins, including Decred, DigiByte, and Siacoin.

The police stated that the malware has worked as a background process whenever the computer was turned on, and the process basically never stopped. As soon as the coins were mined, they would be transferred back to the hackers, who would then make a quick cashout, and the entire operation went unnoticed.

Smaller Coins Don’t Attract Attention

The police believe that the hackers were focused on smaller currencies because they do not need that much computing power. This has also caused the process to be nearly invisible, and difficult to detect. Additionally, the police also states that the hackers managed to organize a large network, including over 100 individuals, who were in charge of distributing the malicious software.

Chinese crypto hackers were eventually spotted and apprehended as the result of a joint effort of numerous law enforcement agencies in China. According to reports, only 9 out of 20 arrested individuals are currently detained, while the rest were released on bail.