Kraken Botnet Utilizes a Wide Range of Payloads

Kraken Botnet is a major botnet project, which has been steadily growing over the past couple of months. What started as a relatively simple botnet with a low infection rate, has now turned into a large-scale campaign that involves all sorts of dangerous payloads. The initial versions of the Kraken Botnet were very simplified – the bot was only able to execute tasks that would affect all of its victims simultaneously. However, over time the author updated the functionality to enable operators to go after specific groups or individual infected systems.

The Kraken Botnet appears to often work in combination with the SmokeLoader Malware, but it may also utilize a wide range of other payloads to net more data from its victims. The criminals, however, do not resort entirely on external payloads – the Kraken Botnet is capable of doing a lot of things on its own. Its recent iterations have the ability to execute remote commands, grab screenshots, and even to steal various cryptocurrency wallet.

Talking of cryptocurrency, it is not a secret that many botnet projects specialize in cryptocurrency mining. However, typically they go after Monero – the Kraken Botnet, on the other hand, utilizes the victim's graphics card to mine for Ethereum. Allegedly, its victims are generating over $3,000/month worth of Ethereum. As you can see, the Kraken Botnet is clearly a very advanced project that is receiving regular, major updates. To stay safe from it, we recommend using an up-to-date antivirus tool, as well as taking additional measures to stay safe while browsing the Web. Avoid downloading unknown files, and stay away from suspicious websites.