Do you know what Adylkuzz Crypto-Miner is?
Adylkuzz Crypto-Miner is known to be a currency miner that works secretly, so a number of users who get infected with it do not know that they have it installed on their computers. It takes time to realize that it is active on the system because it performs its activities in the background allowing a computer to work normally. Only users of older machines can notice the considerably decreased speed of their computers. This infection slows down computers because it uses their resources to perform its activities. This is the main reason it leaves computers intact as well. Luckily, it is possible to disable this infection – users can do this by fully removing it from their computers. It is the only way to do that, so if you manage to discover Adylkuzz Crypto-Miner on your computer, or your security application keeps displaying warnings about its presence on your system, go to take action as soon as possible. Letting it stay inside the system is the worst decision users can make because it will keep performing undesirable activities, and, on top of that, it might help new malicious applications to bypass anti-malware protection and appear on the system unnoticed.
Without a doubt, cyber criminals have developed Adylkuzz Crypto-Miner to mine the digital currency, our team of experienced specialists says. It has become clear after research they have recently conducted that the currency it mines using victims’ PCs resources is Monero - a digital currency similar to Bitcoin. It is becoming more and more popular among cyber criminals. Most probably, it is because it is untraceable. Research has shown that this infection not only performs activities to create the digital cash in the background, but also uses the Internet connection. It needs it to connect to these domains: xmr.crypto-pool.fr, aa1.super5566.com, 08.super5566.com, and icanhazip.com. Consequently, it might slow down your Internet connection too – it is another sign that Adylkuzz Crypto-Miner is active on the system. Take action today if you experience all the symptoms of the malware presence.
Currency mining is not the only activity performed by Adylkuzz Crypto-Miner. Our researchers have also noticed that it checks if there are any active processes of antivirus programs. According to specialists, there are two reasons why it needs information about these active processes. First, they are found so that they could be killed. Second, it simply collects information about victims. Specialists say that Adylkuzz Crypto-Miner might also wait for further commands from a Botnet after discovering active processes and only then take action.
What is more, once this threat successfully infiltrates the system, it immediately executes a bunch of commands, for example, taskkill /f /im hdmanager.exe, cmd.exe /c taskkill /f /im mmc.exe, and sc stop WELM to kill certain processes. Also, it adds rules in the Windows Firewall. Because of this, it can work properly, e.g. connect to the Internet freely.
The currency miner we are talking about in this article has been given the name Adylkuzz Crypto-Miner not without reason. It has a word “Adylkuzz” in its name because it is dropped on users’ computers by a Trojan infection named Adylkuzz Crypto-Miner. Trojan infections manage to find ways how to enter computers unnoticed, so it is not surprising that so many users do not know anything about the active currency miner on their computers too. Security experts say that this Trojan infection is, most probably, spread using NSA exploits. That is, it scans for vulnerable systems, use exploits, and then gains access to them. Once it is inside the system, it installs the currency miner without the user’s knowledge. There is a way to protect your PC from malicious software – our “in non-techie terms” section, which you will find below, will tell you more about this.
We cannot promise that the removal of Adylkuzz Crypto-Miner will be easy because it creates files on victims’ computers and make changes in the system registry. Our manual removal guide which you will find below this article should help you delete it manually easier, but it is not the only removal method that exists – it can be erased automatically with a reputable malware remover too.
Delete Adylkuzz Crypto-Miner
Remove Registry Values
- Press Win+R.
- Enter regedit.exe in the command box and click OK.
- Delete three registry keys:
- HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\WELM
- HKLM\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\Services\WELM
- HKLM\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\WELM
- Move to the registry key HKLM\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Services\SharedAccess\Parameters\FirewallPolicy\FirewallRules.
- Delete {059C6BCE-9DFF-4905-9923-AC1EDBC16087} and {4869D158-BC26-4B47-AEA5-0E699606C97E} Values you find there.
- Access HKLM\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\Services\SharedAccess\Parameters\FirewallPolicy\FirewallRules.
- Find two Values there and remove them: {059C6BCE-9DFF-4905-9923-AC1EDBC16087} and {4869D158-BC26-4B47-AEA5-0E699606C97E}.
- Delete {059C6BCE-9DFF-4905-9923-AC1EDBC16087} and {4869D158-BC26-4B47-AEA5-0E699606C97E} from the registry key HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Services\SharedAccess\Parameters\FirewallPolicy\FirewallRules.
Delete files
- Open the Windows Explorer (tap Win+E).
- Open the %WINDIR% directory and delete the netbios.jfm file.
- Access %WINDIR%\Fonts.
- Delete the following files: history.txt, id.txt, msiexev.exe, and wuauser.exe.
- Open %WINDIR%\Temp.
- Remove sbv8.1_.exe.
- Empty the Trash bin.
In non-techie terms:
Adylkuzz Crypto-Miner is not the only threat mining a cryptocurrency – similar infections using victims’ computer resources to perform this activity are out there on the web too. Therefore, installing a security application is a must, according to security specialists. No currency miners will enter your PC illegally ever again if security software is kept active. Users need to stop downloading software from dubious pages too because malicious applications are often hiding on these pages. Last but not least, all recommended security updates for the Windows OS must be installed on users’ PCs.