Security News > 2022 > July > MS-SQL servers hacked to steal bandwidth with proxyware
Threat actors have been adopting a less common method to generate revenue and are leveraging payloads to install proxyware services on target systems.
Proxyware is a program that allows allocating available internet bandwidth over a proxy to users that need it for various tasks, like testing, intelligence collection, content distribution, or market research.
According to a new report published today by researchers at South Korean company Ahnlab, new malware campaigns have emerged that install proxyware to earn money from sharing their victim's network bandwidth.
According to Ahnlab's report, the malware operators that make a profit using this less typical method are also targeting vulnerable MS-SQL servers to installPeer2Profit clients.
Among the more common threats for SQL servers are cryptocurrency coin miners that perform cryptojacking.
The reason behind using proxyware clients is likely an increased chance to remain undetected for longer periods, which translates into larger profits.