Lsassn.exe process comes from a harmful application that can correctly be identified as a coin miner trojan. That malware form uses your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your system pretty much unusable because of high CPU usage.
What is Lsassn.exe process?
Lsassn.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
As I have specified previously, Lsassn.exe is a coin miner virus. The names of the .exe file may be different, however, the impacts are generally the identical. Since coin miners aim at cryptocurrency mining, they utilize all available hardware capacity of your desktop to run this process. This malware does not pay attention to the fact that you may need to use your desktop for other tasks – it will consistently consume over 80% of your CPU power.
Lsassn.exe – Very high CPU/GPU usage
Besides CPU usage, some of the coin miners also utilize GPU power for their operations. In that instance, you will probably struggle even to see the mouse cursor moving – GPU is usually used on 100%. It is not as essential as CPU for system work, so Lsassn.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and use it all. It often may lead to bad results.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
Cryptocurrency mining term means the activity of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a integral element of any project based on the blockchain technology. Since this operation takes a lot of calculations, a very powerful computer is required. Exactly, the video card is better for this task, because they have more cores available. Cryptomining farms are usually constructed of tens and hundreds of graphic cards to conduct their activity effectively. Such computer systems are not usable for “usual” purposes, like gaming or web browsing. Fraudsters who make profit via this coin miner use someones’ computers instead, even if they are used for the regular activity.2
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Lsassn.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
Firstly, Lsassn.exe malware makes your system overloaded. It is unable to run your applications now, since all processor power is used by a malware. That malware does not care for your demands, all it pays attention to is generating income on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until browser is open, you will likely experience incredibly slow efficiency. Pages will open for years, any type of logins will likely take about a minute – just a horror story for a person who does a job online.
Lsassn.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Lsassn.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Job.exe, Dgen.exe, Igx64.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Lsassn.exe removal. |
“Visible” harm is not a solitary bad thing coin miners do to your PC. Lsassn.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your OS. To complete all malevolent operations effectively, it wrecks the protection mechanisms of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware stops it to avoid recognition. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a number of new notes – they are added by this coin miner to connect your PC to a malicious cryptomining network. All these changes shall be gone back to the initial state in the process of PC recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides decreasing your PC’s performance, running at peak power for long times may trigger damage to your device as well as increase electricity bills. Hardware components are designed to easily deal with high load, but they can do so only in case when they are in a good shape.
Little and covered processor cooling system is not very easy to crack. Meanwhile, graphic cards have big and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily cracked if touched while running, for example, by the user much earlier before the malware injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the extremely high load caused by Lsassn.exe miner can easily lead to graphic card failure3. GPUs are also prone to have very fast wearing when utilized for crypto mining. It is likely an unwanted case when the performance of your video card plunges 20-30% only after several weeks of being used in such a way.
How did I get Lsassn.exe coin miner virus?
Coin miners are spread through different ways, but their main sources are malicious banners and programs from dubious sources
Coin miners are one of the most widespread malevolent programs among “severe” malware. Adware frequently acts as a carrier for Lsassn.exe malware infiltration: it shows you the banners, which include a link to malware downloading. Yes, this abstract “malware” may belong to any kind – an additional adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. However, the statistics show that around 30% of all malware spread through the malicious banners are coin miners – and Lsassn.exe is just among them.4
The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet
One more way you could get this item on your computer is by downloading it from the dubious website as a part of a program. People that spread hacked versions of popular programs (which do not need the license key) have small chances to get paid. Therefore, there is a very big lure to add in malware to the final package of the hacked app and receive a coin for every setup. Prior to blaming these people for hacking and also malware spreading, ask yourself – is it okay to avoid paying for the program in this manner? It is much cheaper to pay $20-$30 at once than to pay a much greater figure for antivirus software as well as new parts for your desktop.
How to remove the Lsassn.exe miner from my PC?
The best way to get rid of this coin miner virus is to use anti-malware software
Getting rid of such a virus involves the use of special program. Appropriate anti-malware program should have high performance at scanning and also be lightweight – in order to make no problems with utilization also on weak computers. Furthermore, it is recommended to have proactive protection in your security solution – to prevent the virus even before it starts. Microsoft Defender does not have these elements for various reasons. That’s why I’d suggest you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that goal. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a superb option that fits each of the discussed characteristics.5
Before the malware removal, it is important to boot your Windows into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Lsassn.exe miner takes a lot of CPU capacity, it is needed to halt it before launching the security program. Otherwise, your scan will last for years, even though the GridinSoft program is pretty lightweight.
Booting the PC into Safe Mode with Networking
Press the Start button, then choose Power, and click on Reboot while holding the Shift key on the keyboard.
Windows will reboot into recovery mode. In that mode, choose Troubleshoot→ Startup Settings→ Safe Mode with Networking. Press the corresponding button on your keyboard to choose that option.
When your computer is in Safe Mode, all third-party programs, just like the majority of non-crucial operating system components, are not started with the system start. That allows you to clean the PC without dealing with high CPU usage of the coin miner.
Remove Lsassn.exe coin miner virus with GridinSoft Anti-Malware
Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware. You can use this anti-malware program for free during its 6-day trial period. In that term, all functions are available, and it takes no payments to remove malware from your system.
After activating your free trial, start Full scan. It may last up to 10 minutes. You may use the PC as usual.
When the scan is finished, press the Clean Now button to remove all detected elements from your system. This procedure takes less than a minute.
Now, you are good to go. Reboot your PC into a normal Windows mode and use just as there was nothing malicious.
Remove Lsassn.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner
Name: Lsassn.exe
Description: The Lsassn.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Lsassn.exe will create your CPU to go for very warm temperatures for prolonged periods of time, which could reduce the life of the CPU.
Operating System: Windows
Application Category: Trojan
User Review
( votes)References
- Read about why Monero and DarkCoin are so popular amongst cybercriminals.
- Detailed explanation of how does cryptomining work.
- About unwanted effects for GPUs in the process of cryptomining.
- Read more about various malware type on Cybersecurity Glossary.
- Our review on GridinSoft Anti-Malware.
