Google Cloud Adds Crypto Mining Malware Threat Detection Service

The company's new Virtual Machine Threat Detection (VMTD) will be able to identify threats from coin mining, data exfiltration and ransomware.

AccessTimeIconFeb 7, 2022 at 8:32 p.m. UTC
Updated May 11, 2023 at 5:56 p.m. UTC

Google Cloud said it's adding Virtual Machine Threat Detection (VMTD), which will help detect threats including malware that mines crypto currency on a compromised account.

  • “VMTD is a first-to-market detection capability from a major cloud provider that provides agentless memory scanning to help detect threats like crypto-mining malware inside your virtual machines running in Google Cloud,” according to a blog post from Google.
  • The move comes after the company said in November that compromised Google Cloud accounts were used by 86% of “malicious actors” to mine cryptocurrencies.
  • VMTD will also be able to protect Google Cloud Platform customers against attacks such as data exfiltration and ransomware, the blog said.
  • The measure is being rolled out as “public preview,” and Google will integrate VMTD with other parts of its service over the next few months.

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