VERY IMPORTANT

Palo Alto Networks Unit 42 has observed a large-scale cryptocurrency mining operation that has been active for over 4 months. The operation attempts to mine the Monero cryptocurrency using the open-source XMRig utility. Based on publicly available telemetry data via bitly, we are able to estimate that the number of victims affected by this operation is roughly around 15 million people worldwide. This same telemetry provides insights into the most heavily targeted areas involving this campaign, which impacts southeast Asia, northern Africa, and South America the most.