Did you know that you may be part of a cryptocurrency mining network? No ? This is normal: hackers prefer that you do not know it, since they have no intention of paying you a portion of the profits. So they use scripts to mine cryptocurrency without telling you and consume your electricity to achieve their ends.
The technique seems to be generalized, thanks to a small extension that allows cryptocurrency mining with the computing power of the processor and not the graphics card: CoinHive. CoinHive only allows you to mine the Monero currency (so no Bitcoins).
After a micro-scandal on the site TorrentFreak, who had installed this javascript code before uninstalling it in front of the outcry provoked, other sites have tried it. Illegal video streaming sites, in particular, seem fond of this technique since their users spend tens of minutes or hours on the pages to watch movies and series. So much time that can be dedicated to the mining of cryptocurrency without the knowledge of users.
According to AdGuard researchers, who published the results of their study Wednesday, December 13, 2017, scripts to mine cryptocurrency without the knowledge of users have been identified on many sites. They estimate that nearly a billion visits to these streaming sites (so not a billion users) could have allowed the secret mining of cryptocurrency, which now has its own term: cryptojacking.
The Starbucks Wifi hacked to undermine?
AdGuard researchers believe that some site administrators may themselves have been used: some would not be aware of the script's presence. The hackers, they would mined the equivalent of 320,000 dollars of cryptocurrency every month thanks to this technique of cryptojacking.
The trend is such that some hackers are even starting to attack public Wi-Fi networks. In Buenos Aires, Argentina, the Wifi of a local Starbucks was pinned by the CEO of the Stensul company: the Wifi offered by the café used the computer of users to undermine cryptocurrencies for 10 seconds before allowing the connection. After reporting the facts to Starbucks on December 2, 2017, the giant said it solved the problem.
