Nicodemo.exe Virus ⛏️ (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Written by Robert Bailey
Nicodemo.exe executable file is related to a malevolent program that can properly be recognized as a coin miner trojan. That malware type uses your hardware to mine cryptocurrencies, basically – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your system roughly unusable due to high CPU use.
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What is Nicodemo.exe process?

Nicodemo.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus

As I have actually specified before, Nicodemo.exe is a coin miner trojan. The names of the .exe file can be different, however, the impacts are generally the same. Since coin miners aim at cryptocurrency mining, they utilize all available hardware capacity of your desktop to conduct this procedure. This virus doesn’t take note of the fact that you probably need to use your device for other tasks – it will constantly take over 80% of your processor power.

Nicodemo.exe Windows Process

Nicodemo.exe – Extremely high CPU as well as GPU use

Besides CPU utilization, some of the coin miners additionally use GPU power for their operations. In that instance, you will probably struggle even to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is usually utilized on 100%. It is not as vital as CPU for system work, so Nicodemo.exe coin miner viruses don’t waste time on trifles and use it all. It sometimes may lead to bad effects.

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

Cryptocurrency mining term means the action of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a basic element of any project based on the blockchain technology. Since this operation takes a lot of calculations, a very powerful PC is needed. Exactly, the graphic card is better for this purpose, because they have more cores available. Cryptomining farms usually consist of tens and hundreds of graphic cards to complete their task efficiently. Such systems are not usable for “general” purposes, like gaming or browsing the Web. Fraudsters who gain money 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

  • Your device overheats (system unit/laptop body is very hot)
  • You are not able to open your apps or they are opening for ages
  • Unknown process is running in the background and consumes your PC resources
  • Windows Defender does not respond
  • How dangerous is the Nicodemo.exe miner?

    Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system

    First, Nicodemo.exe malware makes your system overloaded. It is unable to run your applications now, because all CPU power is consumed by a malware. That malware does not care for your demands, all it pays attention to is making money on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until browser is open, you will likely suffer from exceptionally sluggish performance. Pages can open up for years, any type of logins will likely take about a minute – just a headache for a person who does a job online.

    Nicodemo.exe Technical Summary.

    File Name Nicodemo.exe
    Type Trojan Coin Miner
    Detection Name Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner
    Distribution Method Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc.
    Similar behavior Runtimeservice.exe, Kmspico.exe, Unpack.exe
    Removal Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Nicodemo.exe removal.

    “Visible” damage is not a single negative thing coin miners do to your computer. Nicodemo.exe coin miner also deals damage to your OS. To complete all malicious functions successfully, it ruins the security components 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 ton of new entries – they are brought in by this trojan miner to connect your system to a malicious cryptomining network. All these changes shall be thrown back to the initial state in the process of PC recovery.

    Hardware effects of coin miner activity

    Besides making your computer slow, running at peak power for long times can trigger damage to your device and increase power bills. PC elements are designed to easily deal with high load, but they are good with it only when they are in a good shape.

    Small and covered processor fan is not very easy to crack. Meanwhile, GPUs have big and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily cracked if touched while running, for example, by the user much earlier before the coin-miner injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the extremely high load caused by Nicodemo.exe virus can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. Graphic cards are also tend to have increased wearing when utilized for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely a bad situation when your GPU’s performance decreases on 20-30% only after several weeks of being exploited in such a way.

    How did I get Nicodemo.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 the most common malicious programs among “severe” viruses. Adware frequently acts as a carrier for Nicodemo.exe malware injection: it shows you the banners, which include a link to malware downloading. Sure, this abstract “malware” can belong to any kind – yet another adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. But the statistics say that approximately 30% of all viruses spread with the malicious banners are coin miners – and Nicodemo.exe is right among them.4

    Unwanted banners adware

    The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet

    Another way you could get this thing on your computer is by downloading it from the unreliable web page as a part of a program. People that spread hacked versions of popular programs (which do not demand the license key) have small chances to make money. Therefore, there is a huge lure to add in malware to the final package of the hacked application and acquire a coin for every setup. Prior to blaming these individuals for hacking and also malware distribution, 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 bigger sum for antivirus program as well as new parts for your PC.

    How to remove the Nicodemo.exe miner from my PC?

    The best way to get rid of this coin miner virus is to use anti-malware software

    Removing such a virus requires using specific app. Proper antivirus should have high efficiency at scanning and also be lightweight – in order to make no problems with utilization even on weak computers. On top of that, it is better to have on-run protection in your protection tool – to prevent the virus even before it launches. Microsoft Defender lacks these functions for different reasons. That’s why I’d suggest you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that objective. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a perfect choice that fits each of the mentioned characteristics.5

    Before the malware removal, it is important to boot your system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Nicodemo.exe miner consumes a lot of CPU capacity, it is required to stop 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.

    Boot into Windows Safe Mode

    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.

    windows safe mode boot option with command prompt

    When your computer is in Safe Mode, all third-party apps, along with the majority of non-critical system components, are not launched with the system start. That allows you to clean the PC without dealing with high processor usage of the coin miner.

    Remove Nicodemo.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.

    GridinSoft Anti-Malware free trial

    After activating your free trial, start Full scan. It may last up to 10 minutes. You may use the PC as usual.

    Scanning in GridinSoft Anti-Malware

    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.

    GridinSoft Anti-Malware after the scan process

    Now, you are good to go. Reboot your PC into a normal Windows mode and use just as there was nothing malicious.

    Remove Nicodemo.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner

    Name: Nicodemo.exe

    Description: The Nicodemo.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Nicodemo.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

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    References

    1. Read about why Monero and DarkCoin are so popular amongst cybercriminals.
    2. Detailed explanation of how does cryptomining work.
    3. About unwanted effects for GPUs in the process of cryptomining.
    4. Read more about various malware type on Cybersecurity Glossary.
    5. Our review on GridinSoft Anti-Malware.

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    About the author

    Robert Bailey

    I'm Robert Bailey, a passionate Security Engineer with a deep fascination for all things related to malware, reverse engineering, and white hat ethical hacking.

    As a white hat hacker, I firmly believe in the power of ethical hacking to bolster security measures. By identifying vulnerabilities and providing solutions, I contribute to the proactive defense of digital infrastructures.

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