Minebicoin

Overview

Riskware:Win32/Minebicoin is a heuristic detection representing the widespread threat of 'Cryptojacking'. It flags executables or scripts designed to hijack an endpoint's CPU or GPU resources to mine cryptocurrency (most commonly Monero) without the user's consent or knowledge. While not inherently destructive to data like ransomware, Cryptojacking causes severe hardware degradation, massive power consumption spikes, and significant performance throttling across corporate environments.

Understanding Minebicoin (Cryptojacking)
To an end-user, the machine suddenly becomes incredibly slow, fans run at maximum speed, and the laptop battery drains rapidly. For an IT administrator, a Minebicoin outbreak looks like a massive, unexplained spike in CPU utilization across the fleet (`T1496`). Threat actors favor cryptojacking because it provides a silent, continuous revenue stream, unlike the noisy, one-time extortion of ransomware.

Execution and Resource Hijacking Mechanics
Minebicoin variants are delivered via phishing, exploit kits, or bundled with pirated software. They establish persistence using standard methods (Scheduled Tasks, Registry Run keys - `T1547.001`). Upon execution, the malware often injects a specialized mining payload (like a modified version of XMRig) into legitimate system processes (like `svchost.exe` or `notepad.exe`) to hide its CPU usage (`T1055`). It then connects to a mining pool via the Stratum protocol over TCP, constantly receiving hashing jobs and returning the results to enrich the attacker's wallet.

Indicators of Compromise & Impact
The impact is extreme resource exhaustion and increased electricity/hardware costs. Host-based IoCs are highly visible: Task Manager or EDR will show sustained 90-100% CPU/GPU utilization by unknown or injected processes. Network IoCs are definitive: persistent outbound TCP connections (often to non-standard ports) utilizing the Stratum protocol, communicating with known mining pool IP addresses or domains.

MITRE ATT&CK Techniques

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

MITRE D3FEND™ Defensive Countermeasures

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

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_MINEBICOIN_T1_ARTIFACT {
    meta:
        description = "Tier 1 Primitive Artifact: Raw string matches for Minebicoin"
        tier = "T1 - Primitive Artifact"
        confidence = "Low-Medium (Fast Triage)"
        author = "SystemHelpdesk Threat Research Desk"
        date = "2026-10-14"
    strings:
        $s1 = "minebicoin" ascii wide nocase
    condition:
        uint16(0) == 0x5a4d and any of them
}

title: SystemHelpDesk Detection - Minebicoin (Ransomware) Execution & Triage
id: 8de29658-c3ac-563c-9b6b-a22537f61e58
status: production
description: Detects execution, defense evasion, and persistence behaviors associated
  with the Minebicoin malware family. Detects volume shadow copy deletion, boot status
  tampering, and recovery inhibition characteristic of modern ransomware operations.
references:
- https://malware-families-catalog.systemhelpdesk.com/families/minebicoin
- 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.ransomware
- author.ricky-jordan
- source.systemhelpdesk-mfc
- attack.t1547_001
- attack.t1055
- attack.t1496
logsource:
  category: process_creation
  product: windows
detection:
  selection_process:
    Image|endswith:
    - \vssadmin.exe
    - \wmic.exe
    - \wbadmin.exe
    - \bcdedit.exe
    CommandLine|contains:
    - delete shadows
    - shadowcopy delete
    - resize shadowstorage
    - recoveryenabled no
    - ignoreallfailures
  condition: selection_process
falsepositives:
- Legitimate enterprise administrative scripts during approved change windows
- Authorized IT software deployment utilities and backup management agents
level: critical

rule MALWARE_WIN_MINEBICOIN_T3_ATTRIBUTION {
    meta:
        description = "Tier 3 Attribution Fingerprint: Heuristic detection for Minebicoin 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 = "minebicoin" 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. Isolate the affected machines to halt the resource drain and prevent the malware from potentially moving laterally (some miners include worm capabilities).
2. Identify the malicious process causing the high CPU usage via EDR or Task Manager and terminate it.
3. Update corporate firewall and DNS sinkhole rules to block access to known cryptocurrency mining pools and Stratum protocol traffic.
4. Run a full AV scan to identify and remove the dropper executable and its associated persistence mechanisms.

What to Avoid

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

1. Do not ignore complaints of slow computers or loud fan noise; these are the primary physical indicators of a cryptojacking infection.
2. Avoid relying solely on static file signatures; attackers frequently update the miner binaries, making behavioral detection (high CPU + network pooling) critical.

References & External Analysis

• Search "minebicoin" on VirusTotal (External Analysis)
• Search "minebicoin" on Any.Run (Sandbox Sandbox)
• Search "minebicoin" on MalwareBazaar (Malware Samples)

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Threats (Category: Ransomware)

Explore other documented threats in the same operational category:

• Gippers
• Hiddentears
• Jord
• Tenavt
• Bodegun
• Encryptpe
• Jatif
• Exescript

Machine-readable

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