Cybersecurity researchers have uncovered a new cyberattack that has infected hundreds of thousands of computers around the world in an effort to steal cryptocurrency.

Proofpoint was investigating the WannaCry ransomware when they found a new attack vector named Adylkuzz that has stolen millions of dollars in cryptocurrency for the unknown attackers.

Ryan Kalember, the senior vice president for cybersecurity at Proofpoint, has stated that the new malware uses the same hacking tool that was developed by the NSA.

“I would say the real-world impact of this attack is going to be more substantial than WannaCry,” Kalember told ABC News. “Ransomware is painful, but you can restore operations relatively quickly. Here, you have a huge amount of money landing in some bad people’s hands. That has geopolitical consequences.”

The researchers noted that the North Korean-backed Lazarus Group launched a similar cryptocurrency attack in 2016.

Although Microsoft issued a patch for both the WannaCry and Adylkuzz malwares, any system already affected would still be compromised.

“It takes over your computer, but you probably don’t notice anything other than that the system runs really slow,” Kalember said. “Your computer might be mining cryptocurrency for some very bad people.”

Source: ABC News