Cryptojacking

Cryptojacking is the act of exploiting a computer to mine cryptocurrencies, often through websites,[1][2][3] against the user's will or while the user is unaware.[4] One notable piece of software used for cryptojacking was Coinhive, which was used in over two-thirds of cryptojacks before its March 2019 shutdown.[5] The cryptocurrencies mined the most often are privacy coins—coins with hidden transaction histories—such as Monero and Zcash.[2][6]

Like most malicious attacks on the computing public, the motive is profit, but unlike other threats, it is designed to remain completely hidden from the user. Cryptojacking malware can lead to slowdowns and crashes due to straining of computational resources.[7]

Bitcoin mining by personal computers infected with malware is being challenged by dedicated hardware, such as FPGA and ASIC platforms, which are more efficient in terms of power consumption and thus may have lower costs than theft of computing resources.[8]

  1. ^ Larson, Selena (2018-02-22). "Cryptojackers are hacking websites to mine cryptocurrencies". CNNMoney. Archived from the original on 2022-12-09. Retrieved 2021-04-17.
  2. ^ a b Hatmaker, Taylor (8 May 2018). "Cryptojacking malware was secretly mining Monero on many government and university websites". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on 2023-07-09. Retrieved 2023-07-09.
  3. ^ Lachtar, Nada; Elkhail, Abdulrahman Abu; Bacha, Anys; Malik, Hafiz (2020-07-01). "A Cross-Stack Approach Towards Defending Against Cryptojacking". IEEE Computer Architecture Letters. 19 (2): 126–129. doi:10.1109/LCA.2020.3017457. ISSN 1556-6056. S2CID 222070383.
  4. ^ Caprolu, Maurantonio; Raponi, Simone; Oligeri, Gabriele; Di Pietro, Roberto (2021-04-01). "Cryptomining makes noise: Detecting cryptojacking via Machine Learning". Computer Communications. 171: 126–139. arXiv:1910.09272. doi:10.1016/j.comcom.2021.02.016. S2CID 233402711.
  5. ^ "Coinhive domain repurposed to warn visitors of hacked sites, routers". BleepingComputer. Archived from the original on 2022-12-09. Retrieved 2021-04-17.
  6. ^ Hwang, Inyoung (7 May 2021). "What is cryptojacking? How to detect mining malware - MediaFeed". mediafeed.org. Archived from the original on 2022-12-09. Retrieved 2021-05-11.
  7. ^ "Brutal cryptocurrency mining malware crashes your PC when discovered". ZDNet. Archived from the original on 2022-12-09.
  8. ^ "Bitcoin's Computing Crisis". 31 October 2013. Archived from the original on 14 May 2021. Retrieved 8 July 2023.