The growing popularity of Cryptocurrencies like Bitcoin has made it possible for hackers to find lucrative earning opportunities by hijacking your computer and using it for mining digital currencies. It is easy for hackers to infiltrate computers using websites or software programs and use their processing power for mining. This could severely compromise the device’s capacity and can be a massive threat to user security as well.

Trent Ainsley from Brisbane, Australia fixes computers in his local area. He, recently, found that a 62-year-old client’s energy bills moved from $100 to $400 right after the installation of her new desktop computer.

As the client’s usage was very low, the electricity bill was confusing until he found a JavaScript ad. The process was running in the background, using the lady’s processing power to mine digital currencies.

Such examples are threatening user security, painting a grim picture of the world of digital coins. The hacking groups around the world have become very active since Bitcoin’s price rose to an all-time high of $20,000 in December 2017.

Mining activities generate new supplies of Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies. The miners are rewarded with a small amount of the coin. Depending on the value of the coins, these rewards can add up to be thousands of dollars if not more.

However, mining is a power-hungry process and is known to burn graphics chips at a high rate. They are also known to produce a lot of heat. When hacker’s crypto jack someone’s computer, they transfer the energy bills and all other costs related to the process to the user while the proceeds come directly into their pockets.

Darran Rolls, chief technology officer at a cybersecurity and identity governance firm SailPoint, said:

“When bitcoin reached nearly $20K in December of 2017, the rate of infection for mining malware followed. It makes a lot of sense. Why do robbers rob banks? Because that’s where the money is. The adversary has moved from ransomware to malware mining because that’s where the dollars are.”

It is difficult to ascertain how much money is being made through crypto jacking as victims may not even be aware that their computers are being used for crypto mining.

The countries Australia and New Zealand have been a target of crypto miners. The websites of Victorian Parliament and Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal were compromised recently to mine cryptocurrencies.

New research from cybersecurity software maker Fortinet showed that the crypto mining activity in this region has more than doubled quarter-on-quarter. At least 28 percent of machines are infected with such crypto jacking scripts, up from 13 percent earlier. Monero, Dash, and Bitcoin are the most mined coins.

Cryptojacking Becomes a Nuisance for Users Throughout the World was originally found on [blokt] - Blockchain, Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

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