Cyber crooks are stealthily hijacking computers to mine digital currency, for which a warning was issued recently. The security researchers have identified a point in cyber threats aimed at stealing system computing power for mining operations. Mining digital currencies is a technically concentrated process that computers comprising of crypto-currency network cross checks the transaction record and earn digital coins in return.
Miner, a malicious mining software, which allows generation of crypto-currency and also validate the transactions conducted by the users of the crypto-currency. Hackers, are finding various ways to garner free computing power to support their mining operation and for this they may either hack into websites and implement browser based crypto-mining scripts or drive-by downloads to infect the desktops. It has also been observed hackers infiltrating the server farms and deploying crypto-miners.
The anonymity provided by crypto-currencies and its non-central , distributed architecture , with no control of the Governments , crypto-currency has gained prominence and is one of the most favored form of currency.
The desktop users are indirectly at risk by downloading “free” applications that hide the mining software. Few security experts recently identified high number of websites created with one standard design, offering users free, pirated software of popular computer programs and applications, which in reality were crypto-miners.
Mining software slows down the device’s system performance, which inevitably affects the user experience and directly affects the victim’s electricity bill. Thus, the use of this apparently safe pirated software leads to the victim augmenting someone else’s wallet. It is advisable to the users to remain wary always and use authentic software only to avoid any malicious aids. In addition, the below steps can be a big respite:
- Install and update anti-virus/ anti-malware software
- Never access any unsolicited website
- Keep a backup of your data regularly
- Restrain from using any public Wi-Fi
