Cryptojacking - People mining on your device without your consent

[Zed0X]

Due to the increasing difficulty and cost of mining, these scammers have found a way to mine cryptocurrencies using other people's devices and also electricity.

If this is your first time reading about cryptojacking, it is the unauthorized use of a computer, tablet, mobile phone, or connected home device by cybercriminals to mine for cryptocurrency (source).

This is how they do commonly it:

• Using malicious emails that can install cryptomining code on a computer. This is done through phishing tactics. The victim receives a seemingly harmless email with a link or an attachment. Upon clicking on the link or downloading the attachment, it runs a code that downloads the cryptomining script on the computer. The script then works in the background without the victim’s knowledge.
• Hackers inject a cryptomining script on a website or in an ad that is placed on multiple websites. When the victim visits the infected website, or if the malicious ad pops up in the victim’s browser, the script automatically executes. In this method, no code is stored on the victim’s computer.

(source)

How do you know if your device is infected by cryptojacking? Here are the symptoms:

• High processor usage on your device
• Sluggish or unusually slow response times
• Overheating of your device

(source)

If you want to prevent cryptojacking, you can install ad-blockers in your browser such as nocoin extension or other anti-cryptomining extensions. It also helps if you strengthen your security software. Some browsers such as Firefox are also working to protect your device.

As always, it is best to educate yourself on how to prevent your device getting infected with malwares.