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Cryptojacking is the Latest Thing in Computer Malware


Fragile Bird

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Normally I might post this in the thread for items too small to warrant one of their own, but it's so interesting I thought I would draw attention to it, as it covers two hot topics, bitcoin and getting your computer hijacked.

Apparently the latest thing is to silently steal your electricity by hijacking your computer to use it's power to generate bitcoin. 

Do you use WordPress? Then you apparently are quite vulnerable. Bloggers and small business owners hijacked to make bitcoin!

And last month, computer systems in the province of Ontario, the website for the Information and Privacy Commissioner of Ontario, and the Centre for Addiction and Mental Health, and the municipal websites of communities across the country, from Oshawa, Ontario to Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories, were hit by an attack linked to a third-party accessibility app called Browesaloud.

The way it can happen to you is that you visit an infected website and your computer is hijacked and kicked up to full power to generate the calculations to make bitcoin. The good news is that as soon as you leave the website it ends. The only clue you'll have is your fan goes on to cope with the heat being generated as it runs at full power. The danger is your computer overheats.

Anyone else hear about this?

The story: http://www.cbc.ca/news/technology/cryptojacking-mining-1.4572360

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This has been around for a while.  Some team wrote software that allows a webpage to direct your CPU to participate in networked bitcoin mining while you are on the webpage.  It was (purportedly) intended in good faith as an alternative way for websites to monetize content by having visitors with full knowledge accept that they would pay for the webpage by allowing the CPU usage rather than seeing ads.  But (shockingly) it got co-opted by nefarious types who've been caught using it on several webpages.  Once you exit the webpage, the bitcoin mining stops. 

Of course, that creates an incentive to find a way to embed it more permanently on unsuspecting computers.  If only they had a way to access a huge network of bot computers owned by people so oblivious that they still haven't removed malware that was used for DDOS attacks in recent years....

I think this should be merged into the bitcoin thread, unless you want it prominently displayed as a public service announcement.

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3 hours ago, larrytheimp said:

Gee I would have thought 'cryptojacking' meant masturbating in secret, so I guess we did all learn something new today.

Larry, i have to admit I never figured you to be the public masturbation type. To each their own.

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On 3/14/2018 at 6:45 AM, larrytheimp said:

Gee I would have thought 'cryptojacking' meant masturbating in secret, so I guess we did all learn something new today.

Yeah, I think Masturbating in secret is just called Masturbating.

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