1 - HPC centers in Europes are down.
2 - Those are useful resources to battle battle against COVID-19.
3 - HPC centers are down due to malware infections.
4 - FBI warned and Department of Homeland Security warns of possible cyberattacks targeting COVID-19 research.
1 - one of the two incidences reported (#EGI2020512) targeted academic data centers "for unknown purposes" (https://csirt.egi.eu/academic-data-centers-abused-for-crypto...) and not necessarily crypto currency mining.
2 - IP addresses associated with that second attack were all assigned to a Chinese University (Shanghai Jiaotong University), CSTNET and one Polish host known to be compromised by someone from China.
It's like trying to assign blame for a terrorist attack based on where the jacket dropped by a terrorist was made. Maybe it was made in their home country. Maybe it was imported. Or maybe they purposefully wore a jacket made in a different country and dropped it on the scene to confuse you.
"The attacks may have been perpetrated in order to mine cryptocurrency; investigations are ongoing."
I believe it's referred to as the "limited hangout" in spycraft jargon. You maintain the target's sense of security and ability to detect intrusion while you maintain the capability to reintrude at will.