*-Docker Containers at Risk for Crypto Currency Attacks-*

  NEWS ANALYSIS: Security researchers observe an attack in progress to learn how cyber-attackers insert crypto-currency mining malware into Docker containers.

The characteristics of cloud containers that make them attractive to data center managers also make them attractive to crypto-miners. The ease of setup, the isolation and the performance advantages, coupled with the fact that containers may not enjoy the same level of security as hardware infrastructure, mean that an attacker can operate crypto-currency mining in relative safety and with a reduced risk of discovery. Researchers at Aqua Security Software said that they’d heard about crypto-currency mining attacks on Docker containers and wanted to learn how they were carried out. They also wanted to check the operations of the Aqua Container Security Platform. To accomplish this, they set up a honeypot.