The virtual currency Bitcoin grows in popularity, and many hackers have new tactics. They put in mining handheld devices, televisions and smart refrigerators to mine mining malware, allow these devices to mine for themselves, to obtain digital currency and save mining cost.
The "gold rush" problem of Cryptojacking attacks is increasing in the network security industry, affecting consumers and business organizations. Depending on the severity of the attack, the victim may notice that the processing capacity of the device is slightly reduced, but not enough. To reminiscent of hacking. However, after several months, or if the entire computer network of the enterprise is attacked, it may accumulate a lot of processing power.
Maya Horowitz, manager of Check Point Threat Intelligence at Israel's security company, said: "We have seen many organizations increase their monthly electricity bills by tens of thousands of dollars."
Hackers use the victim's device processing power to create virtual currency, that is, mining. Virtual currency mining requires a computer to perform complex calculations. In addition to installing malware for cryptocurrency hijacking, hackers may also use a web browser.
When a victim visits a web page, the computer processing power begins to mine until the victim leaves the web page. Some websites try to mine in a legal and transparent way, like Salon.com has removed the website for 3 months this year. Advertising, in exchange for user consent to let them mine.
In 2017, the security experts first raised the threat of cryptocurrency hijacking. At that time, the price of virtual currency rose and the record broke.
Hackers usually infect as many devices as possible, said Ismail Belkacim, an anti-mine mining application developer. “Every person who has a computer processing device may be the target of cryptocurrency hijacking.”
Apple and Google began to ban the mining applications on the device. Some experts said that new technologies such as artificial intelligence can help respond quickly to suspicious software, but military researcher Troy Mursch believes that artificial intelligence may reduce impact, but Failed to prevent cryptocurrency hijacking.