What is Cryptojacking? You May Already Be a Victim.

What is Cryptojacking? You May Already Be a Victim.

Often times, when you think of your computer being compromised, you think of information stolen or your files getting locked up and held for ransom. These attacks are the ones that are more obvious and what you often hear about on the internet and in the news. Woman paid Russian Hackers in BTC for release of her files. Man loses his entire cryptocurrency portfolio from phishing scheme. These are just some examples of what is often covered. What if though, hackers are also secretly targeting you?

Has your computer been feeling slow lately? You only have an internet browser open, but your computer is slowly chugging along. When’s the last time you did a deep sweep to clean out your computer from malware and viruses? Not for a while…? Oops. If this sounds like you, you might be a victim of a new way of criminal exploit.

We are talking about Cryptojacking. Millions of people all over the world are being targeted by malware that harnesses a user’s computer power and uses it for mining cryptocurrencies. Cryptocurrencies are “mined”, a process of solving algorithms that verify transactions on the blockchain, the digital ledger on which cryptocurrencies are built on. Solving the cryptography behind a transaction and verifying it produces a financial reward to users who do it, incentivizing the miners to continue mining the cryptocurrency.

How Does Cryptojacking Work?

When victims click on a malicious link in an email, that link loads crypto mining code onto the computer via a malware. Another way is by visiting an infected website or clicking on an online ad with Javascript code that auto-executes once loaded in the victim’s browser. Once loaded, the crypto mining code then works in the background as the unsuspecting victim uses their computer normally. The only sign they might notice is slower performance or lags in execution time. Browser-based cryptojacking is on the rise. Last november, Adguard reported a 31% growth rate for in-browser cryptojacking. Its research found that over 33,000 websites are running crypto mining scripts. Adguard estimated that those sites had a billion combined monthly visitors. That unsecured anime site you’ve been using to read manga? Yup, you’re probably a victim of cryptojacking. Raises hand in guilt

An infected computer may generate maybe $0.005 a day for criminals, but times that by millions of infected computers and all of a sudden the hacker is sitting on a nice monthly return. Though it is unclear how much money these criminals/hackers make from cryptojacking, analyst estimate that they can generate $300k+ per month from the millions of machines they have infected. The reason why this threat has been on the rise is because it does not require significant technical skills. According to the dark web, cryptojacking kits are available for as little as $30.

The simple reason why cryptojacking is becoming more popular with hackers is because it can potentially produce more money for less risk. With ransomware, a hacker might get 3 people to pay for every 100 computers infected. However with cryptojacking, all 100 computers infected is producing money for the hacker. The continuous generation is money provided by mining cryptocurrencies off your devices is what lures criminals into using cryptojacking. The risk of being caught and identified is much less than with ransomware. The crypto mining code runs secretly and can go undetected for a long time. Once discovered, it’s very hard to trace back to the source and victims have little incentive to do so since nothing was stolen or encrypted. Hackers tend to prefer mining more anonymous cryptocurrencies such as Monero or Zcash for their privacy, over more public blockchain coins like Bitcoin or Ethereum.

How To Protect Yourself?

• Awareness. If you know of the problem, you can prevent yourself and others from clicking random links from your emails, thinking that because you did not download anything, you are safe. As explained earlier, the crypto mining code auto-executes and installed on your computer through the malware.
• Ad-block or Anti-Cryptomining Extentions. Since cryptojacking scripts are often delivered through web ads, installing an ad blocker can be an effective mean of stopping them. Often though, sites requires you to turn off your ad blocker to continue accessing the site... So sucks to suck.
• Anti-Virus and Anti-Malware Software. Your anti-virus sometimes is unable to detect the malware affecting your computer. Sometimes you need to download specific software to remove the malicious malware. One of the most popular anti-malware free software is Malwarebytes.

There are many more preventative measures out there, but for the casual users this should be a great first step. Stay safe out there Musketeers!

Cheers,
The Blockchain Musketeers

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Disclaimer: The information provided by the Blockchain Musketeers is our own opinions and should not be taken as investment advice, financial advice, or any other sort of advice. Nor should this information be used to determine if you should buy, sell, or hold a cryptocurrency. Please conduct your own due diligence and consult your financial advisory before making any investment decisions. Only invest money which you are willing to lose, as cryptocurrencies is not suitable for all users.