A new form of cyber-attack has recently reared its ugly head. It is being commonly referred to as cryptojacking. This process hijacks the victim’s computer to mine cryptocurrency, like Bitcoin. What is truly worrying is that no program needs to be installed on the machine for this to occur. Instead, hackers infect a website with malicious JavaScript code that starts running when the page is loaded in a web browser like Chrome or Firefox
Unlike more common malware, cryptojacking scripts do not target user data or aim to harm the device. The goal is to utilize the processing power of the target machine to perform complex equations which yields the currency they are after. For most of those infected, the only sign would be a degradation in overall computer performance. When compounded, this could lead to replacing perfectly fine servers and computers to remedy the newly occurring “slowness”.
Adguard, a company that provides ad blocking software, conducted a cryptojacking study late last year. They found that over 33,000 websites are currently running a cryptomining script and those sites receive over 1 billion visits a month. The scale is already staggering and will continue to grow thanks in part to the availability of the malicious scripts.