How Malicious is the Diet.exe Cryptominer file?

Diet.exe is the name of a malicious file that acts as a cryptomining tool.

Cryptominers are a category of malware that deploys on victim computers, then tries to keep a low profile while the crypto mining malware abuses the victim system's resources to mine cryptocurrencies for the benefit of the malware's operator.

Having Diet.exe or some other piece of cryptomining on your system will result in strange system behavior that may not be immediately obvious.

Cryptomining malware like Diet.exe will cause excessive load on both CPU and GPU, leading to overall system slowdown in a lot of cases. This will lead to increased power consumption and to the generation of much more heat, which is especially noticeable on a laptop. If you are on a desktop system, you will likely hear both your CPU and GPU fans spinning up at maximum RPM inside your case.

This is due to the excessive strain that the crypto malware puts on your hardware while abusing its resources.

Dealing with this type of malware will often require the use of an anti-malware tool that can remove not just the currently active instance but also any traces of the malware and its persistence mechanisms, if any.