You are producing Bitcoin because of cybercriminals, but unfortunately you are not aware of this situation.. Cryptocurrency market has become a huge opportunity for cybercriminals. Criminals infect home and company computers with malware, using the resources of these computers to generate cryptocurrencies. According to the latest threat report by global antivirus software company ESET, with a rate of 17 percent, cryptocurrency mining has become the most common cyber threat in the world.
You are producing Bitcoin, how can you tell?
You may be unwittingly supporting the production of Bitcoin or other cryptocurrencies if you are constantly experiencing:
- Your computer is slowing down
- Overheating
- Behaving abnormally
- Your electricity bills are higher than normal
Branding on antivirus, ESET has labeled the malware that causes them as “JS/CoinMiner”. ESET Turkey Istanbul Technical Manager Gürcan Şen describes CoinMiner as malware that mines cryptocurrency without the knowledge of the computer user.. In the February global threat report published by ESET, CoinMiner stood out as the most common cyber threat in the world with a rate of 17.77 percent.
Why did it become a threat?
Various cryptocurrencies such as Etherium, Riple and Monero, especially Bitcoin, are in the center of attention all over the world due to their rising values.. Cryptocurrency mining, which refers to the production of these coins, has also become the most popular business line of the last period. But today, large amounts of computer processing power (CPU) are needed to produce these kpito currencies.. Here hackers found a way to get this high processing power by running other people’s systems.. By creating malicious software, they use the systems of individuals and institutions collectively and produce crypto money in various units.
In this case, the biggest targets are companies.. Because companies have a larger advanced system. As such, company tools turn into an invaluable boon for cybercriminals.. According to the information provided by Eset, JS/CoinMiner is transmitted through infected websites.. This pest is more common especially in free downloadable applications, web pages that broadcast free movies or matches.. Cryptocurrency Monero can be mined by injecting the JavaScript code snippet called ‘Coinhive’ into web pages.
Cyberhackers can also target many popular and legal sites that are frequently visited.. For example, last week, the website of a government agency of India was affected by this situation.. When there was no activity on the computers of the users who entered the web page for 10 seconds, the malware was able to step in and start Monero mining.. Before this, there is information that the web pages of some government agencies of the USA and England were infected in a similar way.
How to protect?
All global antivirus brands have taken precautions against this malware.. But it’s only a matter of time before hackers release different versions of this malware.. Therefore, proactively updating antivirus and internet security software should be preferred.