This is not the first malware to mention Krebs or his blog because both are very popular among security researchers and malware authors. In recent years, malware developers have been quite keen to mock Krebs by putting his name in the code.
BTCMine is only part of a new trend. Over the past months, researchers from all over the world have discovered many illegal virtual money digging tools. This trend can be seen by the popularity of virtual currencies such as Ethereum, Monero or Zcash. Examples can be mentioned as:
In order to effectively dig Bitcoin, users need machines with specially optimized hardware but with Ethereum, Monero or Zcash, they can still make a profit using regular computers. Or in BTCMine's case is through Linux machines.
If you are using Telnet to connect to Linux devices, make sure your account has a strong password. If the account has a password, make sure it's not the default password on the device or easily guessed passwords.