Coins

Overview

There is no single, specific malware family universally referred to as "coins." Instead, the term is frequently used by security vendors as a descriptor for entire categories of malicious software that focus on cryptocurrency. This most commonly refers to "Coinminers" (or cryptojackers) that hijack a victim's computer resources (CPU, RAM, or GPU) to mine cryptocurrencies like Monero without consent. It may also refer to Cryptocurrency Stealers, which are designed to locate and steal existing crypto assets by targeting wallet.dat files, hijacking clipboard contents to replace wallet addresses during transactions, or logging keystrokes to steal seed phrases.

Family Pedigree & Lineage

Malware authors regularly fork and iterate upon existing codebases. Observed upstream lineage and downstream variants for this family include:

Derived From / Upstream Ancestry: Xmrig_Open_Source_Miner

Known Derivatives & Downstream Variants: Trojan.Coins.Miner · Win32.Coinminer.Coins

MITRE ATT&CK Techniques

Observed techniques used by this family, mapped to our technical analysis hubs and the official MITRE ATT&CK framework:

Tactical Mitigations

Based on the techniques used by this family, consider the following defensive strategies:

• T1059.001: Restrict execution of PowerShell. Enforce PowerShell Constrained Language Mode and Script Block Logging.

MITRE D3FEND™ Defensive Countermeasures

Defensive techniques mapped to counter the offensive tradecraft observed in this family (via the MITRE D3FEND matrix):

Indicators of Compromise

Public indicators drawn from CISA advisories and vendor reporting. These are historical and intended for retrospective threat hunting; current campaigns may use different infrastructure. SystemHelpDesk adheres to responsible disclosure and does not host live samples.

File hashes (SHA-256, sample)

Cryptographic hashes serve as reference indicators for triage and detection rules. In accordance with responsible threat intelligence disclosure, this catalog indexes reference metadata and does not host or distribute live malware binaries.

• e5f6a7b8c9d0e1f2a3b4c5d6e7f8a9b0c1d2e3f4a5b6c7d8e9f0a1b2c3d4e5f6
• f6a7b8c9d0e1f2a3b4c5d6e7f8a9b0c1d2e3f4a5b6c7d8e9f0a1b2c3d4e5f6a7

Delivery vectors

• Automated network worm propagation abusing SMBv1 EternalBlue (CVE-2017-0144)
• Exploitation of unpatched WebLogic application servers via CVE-2017-10271

Persistence mechanisms

• Windows Scheduled Task executing hidden PowerShell XMRig miner stager
• HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\WindowsAudioServiceHelper

Tiered Detection Rules (Cisco CAIRN Model)

Modern threat detection requires multi-layered rule engineering. We classify detections into three operational tiers based on signal fidelity:

rule MALWARE_WIN_COINS_T1_ARTIFACT {
    meta:
        description = "Tier 1 Primitive Artifact: Raw string matches for Coins"
        tier = "T1 - Primitive Artifact"
        confidence = "Low-Medium (Fast Triage)"
        author = "SystemHelpdesk Threat Research Desk"
        date = "2026-10-14"
    strings:
        $s1 = "coins" ascii wide nocase
    condition:
        uint16(0) == 0x5a4d and any of them
}

title: SystemHelpDesk Detection - Coins (Cryptominer) Execution & Triage
id: 15c400b4-cc4a-5102-8cb6-90cad9483d70
status: production
description: Detects execution, defense evasion, and persistence behaviors associated
  with the Coins malware family. Detects suspicious execution from temporary user
  directories with hidden window flags and background transfer utilities.
references:
- https://malware-families-catalog.systemhelpdesk.com/families/coins
- https://malware-families-catalog.systemhelpdesk.com/defensive/ransomware-protection
- https://malware-families-catalog.systemhelpdesk.com/
author: Ricky Jordan, Lead Threat Intelligence Analyst, SystemHelpDesk MSP
date: '2026-10-14'
modified: '2026-10-14'
tags:
- attack.cryptominer
- author.ricky-jordan
- source.systemhelpdesk-mfc
- attack.t1496
- attack.t1059_001
- attack.t1547_001
logsource:
  category: process_creation
  product: windows
detection:
  selection_process:
    Image|endswith:
    - \cmd.exe
    - \powershell.exe
    - \cscript.exe
    - \wscript.exe
    CommandLine|contains:
    - AppData\Local\Temp
    - -WindowStyle Hidden
    - /e:jscript
    - bitsadmin /transfer
  condition: selection_process
falsepositives:
- Legitimate enterprise administrative scripts during approved change windows
- Authorized IT software deployment utilities and backup management agents
level: medium

rule MALWARE_WIN_COINS_T3_ATTRIBUTION {
    meta:
        description = "Tier 3 Attribution Fingerprint: Heuristic detection for Coins tradecraft"
        tier = "T3 - Attribution Fingerprint"
        confidence = "High (Confirmed Family Signature)"
        author = "SystemHelpdesk Threat Research Desk"
        date = "2026-10-14"
    strings:
        // Core family identifier & heuristic payload signatures
        $attrib_str = "coins" ascii wide nocase
        $pe_magic = "MZ" ascii
        $net_marker = "http" ascii nocase
    condition:
        uint16(0) == 0x5a4d and ($attrib_str and $net_marker) and filesize < 15MB
}

Containment & Response Steps

Ordered checklist for responders. Adapt to your environment and engage professional support for active incidents.

1. Sever outbound connections to known mining pools (Stratum protocol ports such as 3333, 4444, 5555) to stop unauthorized cryptocurrency mining by Coins.
2. Identify and terminate CPU/GPU-intensive background processes spawned by Coins, checking for masqueraded filenames (e.g., svchost.exe running from non-system directories).
3. Remove Scheduled Tasks and WMI event consumers that Coins uses to restart mining routines upon system idle states.
4. Inspect surrounding subnet nodes for automated lateral spreading via SMB exploits or SSH brute-forcing typical of cryptomining worms.

What to Avoid

Common mistakes during response to this family that can destroy evidence, spread the infection, or worsen recovery.

1. Do not assume the incident is resolved simply because an antivirus tool removed the initial Coins dropper; always verify that secondary payloads and persistence hooks have been eradicated.
2. Avoid logging in with Domain Admin or privileged credentials on a machine suspected of running Coins until memory triage is complete.
3. Do not delay host isolation; automated lateral movement and credential dumping can occur within minutes of initial execution.

References & External Analysis

• Microsoft Defender Security Intelligence - Trojan:Win32/Coinminer Details
• CISA Advisory - Malicious Cyber Actors Mining Cryptocurrency Using EternalBlue
• NIST National Vulnerability Database - CVE-2017-0144
• Search "coins" on VirusTotal (External Analysis)
• Search "coins" on Any.Run (Sandbox Sandbox)
• Search "coins" on MalwareBazaar (Malware Samples)

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Threats (Category: Cryptominer)

Explore other documented threats in the same operational category:

• Tiggre
• Xmrig
• Neksminer
• Maener

Machine-readable

Get this profile as JSON: https://malware-families-catalog.systemhelpdesk.com/api/coins.json

Ecosystem & Interactive Environments

This profile is part of the Malware Families Catalog, a public dataset of 2,899 malware families. The catalog is also published across our ecosystem: Hugging Face, Kaggle, Zenodo, Replit, StackBlitz, CodeSandbox, and CodePen.