Virus on ASIC — how to detect and fix.

Cryptocurrencies have always been a special kind of mark for hackers because of its inaccessibility, however, keen interest made them find a way to cheat the system. So, since 2019 viruses have begun to appear on user devices transferring mined reward to fraudsters' addresses.

Often, users themselves bring malware onto devices by downloading firmware or buying untested used equipment.  But sometimes even new ASICs delivered from China are pre-infected.

🔍 How to detect a virus?

If you suspect your ASIC of "treason", you should check the address of the wallet to which the reward is received. In some cases, pool spoofing can be detected with WinSCP program by entering the ASIC address, root name and password.

🔨 What to do if a virus is found?

On some ASIC models, you can simply reset the IP address and install the official firmware.  However, this is time-consuming, requires at least 2GB of storage, and does not work on all devices. You can also "cure" the ASIC using a utility like Win32Disklmager and doing some manipulations with the board.

In any case, to avoid the appearance of a virus, you should keep the situation under control and regularly check the worker's address. The virus threatens not only with 50% loss of the rewards from the cryptocurrency mining by the device, but also with the spread to all ASICs connected to the network.

You can always host your equipment on BitCluster hosting with a guarantee of viruses and hacker attacks protection.