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Author: Admin | 2025-04-27
Popular venues for cryptojacking codes to lurk. Data has found a single crypto mining malware on more than 35,000 websites.Image Credit: Marc Bruxelle / iStock.Risks of CryptojackingCryptojacking is popular because the risk of being caught is so much lower than with other forms of cybercrime like ransomware, which requires that victims pay up in order to be successful.Those impacted by cryptojacking may see their computer systems slow down dramatically and their electricity bills skyrocket. Because that’s how Bitcoin mining works: the costs of computer hardware and electricity are often the biggest drags on the profits of cryptominers.Meanwhile, even bigger risks exist: once a hacker has infiltrated a victim’s computer, they may be able to jump to other areas of the network and steal data or intellectual property.Image Credit: ipopba / iStock.Famous Cryptojacking IncidentsCrypto mining malware has been known to be around since at least 2011, but cryptojacking ramped up in late 2017 as more people started investing in cryptocurrencies. The more valuable a cryptocurrency, the greater the incentive to mine it.Cryptojacking became so prevalent that in April 2018, Google announced it would stop listing extensions for its Chrome browser that mines cryptocurrency. The internet giant found that 90% of such software on its webstore violated policies.Several media outlets have reported that a number of companies and organizations have been victims of cryptojacking. In February 2018, security firm Redlock spotted that electric carmaker Tesla’s cloud was infected by cryptojacking malware.Other cases have included code-collaboration website Github, said security company Avast in March 2018, U.K. insurer Aviva Plc and Britain’s National Health Service, according to an April 2018 article by the Financial Times. Meanwhile, the Harvard Crimson reported back in 2014 that the university’s research network was used for mining Dogecoin.Coinhive, which made software that allowed websites to use visitor’s computers to
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