# Pickaxe: threat group profile

> Pickaxe is a threat group. Public reporting about it is still limited. This free profile brings together what is known about it, so you can judge the risk to you. It lists the other names the group goes by and links to every public report behind it.

Canonical page: https://www.edgeprotect.io/threat-actors/pickaxe
Breadcrumb: [Home](https://www.edgeprotect.io/) > [Threat groups](https://www.edgeprotect.io/threat-actors) > Pickaxe

## At a glance

| Fact | Value |
|---|---|
| Attack techniques | 0 |
| Thought to operate from | Not known |
| Other names | 1 |
| Public reports | 1 |

## Who is Pickaxe?

Pickaxe is a threat group. Public reporting about it is still limited.

### Also known as

Prying Libra

Security companies each give the same group their own name, so one group can have many.

### What public reporting says

> Prying Libra, also known as Pickaxe, is a threat actor active since at least August 2017, and continues to remain active to this day. The adversary's goal is to install and maintain a popular cryptocurrency miner on the victim's machine. The miner in question is an open-source tool named XMRig that generates the Monero cryptocurrency. Malware is delivered via downloads through the popular Adfly advertisement platform. Users are often mislead into clicking on a malicious advertisement that results in the payload being delivered to the victim. Once installed, the malware leverages VBS scripts and redirection services, such as bitly, to ultimately download and execute XMRig. Over 15 million confirmed victims have been discovered to be infected in recent campaigns, with actual numbers likely to be between 30-45 million victims. The victims are found across the globe, with high concentrations in Thailand, Vietnam, Egypt, Indonesia, and Turkey.

## Public reports about Pickaxe

- https://unit42.paloaltonetworks.com/atoms/pryinglibra/

## Frequently asked questions

### Who is Pickaxe?

Pickaxe is a threat group. Public reporting about it is still limited.

### How do I know if Pickaxe is a risk to my business?

Create an account and tell us the software you run. We match it against known flaws, including those linked to threat groups, rank each one from 0 to 100 and tell you as soon as we spot something that affects you.

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