415,000 routers worldwide were hacked to mine cryptocurrency

More than 400,000 routers around the world have been hacked using crypto-jacking scripts run using Omine software. This breach was first discovered back in August and at that time, it was thought around 200,000 devices have been compromised. Most of the devices at that time were located in Brazil but the breach has spread worldwide. The figure has also doubled since then.

This attack is still ongoing and mostly affects routers from MikroTik. Given below is a geographical view of the routers which were hacked worldwide:

As you can see in the image above, some routers from Pakistan have also been hacked to mine cryptocurrency.

This image above shows a greater concentration of the breach in Southern America side and in Europe.

Another image showing vast concentration of breaches in Europe and Brazil side.

Security firm VriesHD said that the number of hacked routers is around 200,000 to 400,000 and it wouldn’t be a surprise if it goes further up. The only way to combat this hack would be through over-the-air updates provided by the router manufacturer or the internet service providers (ISP). Generally, hackers use the devices they breach to mine Monero, which is a privacy-oriented currency.

If you use a Mikrotek router, be sure to update your RouterOS to the latest version by downloading the software from their website.