You
might’ve heard of it, or unknowingly experienced it — your computer all of a
sudden becomes slower and CPU usage is exploding. You are not certain what is
happening — because you are merely surfing the web — it might be that somebody
cryptojacked your PC and is utilizing its computing power to mine cryptocurrencies.
There
are 2 methods of cryptojacking, the first way involves an application that runs
on a computer. It’s easier to spot with modern-day anti-malware software having
the ability to detect an app which will do “something” within the background. The
best defense is to not install apps from untrustworthy sources.
The
second kind of “attack” is the one which isn’t necessarily illegal. Instead, it
was the site owner who included a cryptojacking JavaScript within the page to
possibly monetize on its site traffic. Or it might be that a hacker hijacked
the web page and added malicious code into it.
The
issue with such cryptojacking is that people do not need to do anything to begin
the process of mining — it’ll happen the moment they go to an “infected” page. These
scripts use someone’s CPU power to mine for anonymous cryptocurrencies like
Monero and Bytecoin. If it’s the work of a hacker, she/he wants to hide her/his
identity.
It’s
possible to protect yourself from such an attack by avoiding visiting
suspicious pages or using an add-on that blocks JavaScripts. The latter might
mess up user experiences; therefore, think twice before turning off JavaScript
code on a page. Because of that, you should use a dedicated mining blocker
chrome extension or the ones which block certain scripts. Or it’s possible to
use Opera that includes mining protections within its mobile and desktop
browsers.
It’s
possible to discover if your computer is being utilized for mining
cryptocurrencies by checking the CPU utilization.
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