Google Cloud's Security Command Center can detect crypto mining attacks and offers $1 million in protection.

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Google Cloud

Google Cloud is now offering up to $1 million in protection for customers who join the Advanced Protection Program to combat undetected cryptocurrency mining attacks.

Google Security Command Center

The Security Command Center is a security and risk management platform provided by Google Cloud Systems to help users discover, analyze, and remediate security vulnerabilities and threats to Google Cloud assets.

The Security Command Center has two service levels. The free standard version provides features such as asset discovery and inventory, security health analytics, and network security scanning. The Premium version, which is a paid service, offers more comprehensive asset security protection, including discovering common web application vulnerabilities, addressing security misconfigurations, and detecting threats such as cryptojacking and common container threats.

Note: Container threat detection refers to a security service that monitors and identifies whether workloads running in a container environment are subject to malicious activities or attacks, with containers being the standard unit of software.

Providing $1 Million Protection for Premium Customers

The Google Security Command Center provides up to $1 million in protection for Premium customers. Cloud security expert Philip Bues from market research firm IDC stated that Google is taking a step forward in this regard:

For organizations without proper preventive measures and threat detection capabilities, cryptocurrency mining attacks remain a serious security and financial concern. This shared fate approach to cloud security helps increase enterprise buyers' confidence when transitioning to the cloud.

According to a report released by Google's Threat Horizons team in September 2022, in 65% of the attacked cloud account cases, hackers targeted cryptocurrency mining. These attacks are often partially or fully automated, making them quick and easy to execute.

If hackers successfully bypass Google's detection capabilities and run cryptocurrency mining software on a user's cloud account, Google will take responsibility and provide up to $1 million in protection for the customer.

It is important to note that this protection plan is not related to Bitcoin mining and only applies to individuals using mining software, with one of the most popular cryptocurrencies being Monero (XMR).