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Comment by chris_wot | Hacker News Reader

... because processes that run within Bash don't show in the task manager! So you can run Linux processes and they don't show up in normal Windows monitoring tools.

You don't think that's a problem or could be used to hide processes from the average sysadmin? I do!

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It's a problem and could be used to hide processes from the average sysadmin, but Bitcoin mining is not a likely use of this exploit.

Possibly, but bitcoin mining is the reason for a fair bit of malware on the average PC/laptop.

BTC based malware is typically ransomware actually. Not actually BTC Mining.

Generally speaking, when virus writers write viruses, they don't like spinning up the CPU fans and literally allowing the user to hear the virus working. Pegging the CPU at 100% is the easiest damn way of getting caught.

Instead, Botnets seem to be more intent in stealing keyboard presses (credit card information, personal information), and launching DDOS attacks.

It's a beta release only available for insider subscribers. They also mention this issue in a channel9 video and are very well aware of the issue.

That's not the point I was responding to though. The OP was saying that bitcoin mining would be an unlikely motivation to exploit this, all I'm saying is that a lot of Windows malware is written precisely to steal CPU cycles in order to mine cryptocurrencies.

It's a loose assumption based on a chain of unlikely events, not a distinct outcome like the title suggests.

It's a ubuntu based subsystem. Apt-get probably uses their official repo and you would have to get your malware into that first and then make some windows beta-user install your new and unknown package.

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