One of the newest and growing types of crypto scam is crypto-jacking. It has steadily grown in popularity in criminal circles and it is affecting thousands of unsuspecting victims.
What is crypto jacking?
In short, crypto jacking is a type of crypto scam using malware that is injected into the computer via links sent by email, or infected ads on malicious websites.
The virus is designed to take over the PC and run in the background, mining crypto coins for the attacker.
This hijacks the processing power of both the CPU and if the machine has one, the GPU of the victim's computer.
As said, the malware spreads via two main methods.
Malicious emails containing affected links, or websites that have ads or pop-ups designed to inject the malware on the computer.
For the most part, these will only work while the user is connected to the internet and has the email or the malicious website open.
Once the user logs off or leaves the website the malware will stop working.
This is because nothing is installed on the targeted computer permanently. At least with most variations of the virus.
There are some versions that do act as a worm and permanently infect the computer but are rare and not used as much.
At first, this sounds harmless enough but it is a serious type of crypto scam.
The user of the affected computer will notice a considerable drop in the performance of the computer.
Regular tasks will take much longer to complete and it will have problems running more than one program at a time.
Additionally, because the CPU and GPU are being overworked by the malware, the PC will overheat regularly.
Over time, the constant heat buildup will damage the internal components of the computer.
While also reducing the performance and overall effectiveness of the GPU, because it will be more occupied mining crypto for the attacker than doing the tasks the owner assigns it.
The virus does not steal personal data nor compromises the information stored on the affected computer.
So, if spotted in time, the only problem will be some reduced performance. But as we said, over time it will damage the affected PC. The use of this crypto scam is on the rise.
Why is crypto jacking on the rise?
If we look at the history of this type of crypto scam, it first appeared in 2017 during the bull market.
That time the ICO boom created by Ethereum and the first time Bitcoin reached 20,000 dollars meant that many people heard of cryptocurrencies for the first time.
Many started legitimate mining operations, but also a few found ways to mine crypto at the expense of other people.
In that first run, crypto scammers concentrated on taking over the computers of others to mine BTC a little, but mainly to mine Ethereum.
Back then ETH had not become mainstream and the mining difficulty of the network was not too high. It was a very profitable crypto scam.
Crypto jacking became less popular not because of an increase in security but due to the market crash of late 2018 and 2019.
Prices of all the major crypto coins fell, and suddenly it was not very profitable to crypto jack systems. So, things calmed down for a time.
Of course, now we are in a new bull market in the world of cryptocurrencies.
BTC hit a new all time high, and Ether is trending up.
These are optimal conditions to once again use crypto scams and crypto jacking systems is one of the most popular at the moment.
But there is one problem, the mining difficulty of BTC and Ethereum are way too high to make any rewards by stealing some processing power.
In this new version of this crypto scam, attackers mine other crypto coins that are less difficult, such as Raven coin or Grin coin.
Once they have accumulated enough of these coins they trade them for Bitcoin or ETH.
By doing so, they are able to accumulate more profits and leverage the lesser difficulty when mining smaller networks.
As the bull market carries on, more and more crypto scams will proliferate. Crypto jacking is again propagating on the internet.
How to spot crypto jacking?
Crypto jacking can be a serious problem not only for private users but mainly for offices and small businesses.
It is more profitable to target a small company that has many computers running concurrently.
Some ways to know if you have been affected are:
Overheating PCs
As said, the malware overworks the machine affected with no regard for safety.
The attacker wants to get the most of the time he/she has with the affected hardware.
So, if a computer is not doing any complicated tasks, yet, it's still working overtime and running the cooling fan constantly, then it's most likely infected.
There are programs on the market that can monitor the heat of a machine and give up alerts if a PC behaves abnormally.
It is a good idea to have them installed in your machines and keep a close eye on their reports.
An infected PC will take longer to complete tasks that are simple and it could do easily before.
So, if a particular machine is taking too long to do a simple task have a thorough look at its GPU and CPU performance when it is idle.
If there are spikes even though it is doing nothing then it has been infected.
Keep an eye on websites
The most popular way to distribute crypto jacking malware is through malicious websites.
Always check the security information on a new website you visit. Be very careful with crypto websites, as they often have malware embedded.
Also, gaming websites are a good vehicle for attackers since these are visited by people that have high-end PCs.
Keep up with the news
Trends in crypto security and the latest crypto scams change all the time. So read often on crypto news sites about all the new ways attackers and hackers look to steal crypto.
Good sources are:
How to prevent this crypto scam?
The first line of defense with this type of attack is prevention. Some good ways are:
Education
Keep up to date with the latest developments in the world of cybersecurity. If you have employees make sure to educate them and train them with the knowledge.
Install Anti-Crypto Mining Extensions
These are web browser extensions that prevent mining software from running on any PC.
They are great to stop crypto jacking or employees running mining software. Some of them are minerBlock, No Coin, and Anti Miner.
Use ad-blockers
As said before, most crypto jacking is done via infected ads or pop-ups.
Use up to date ad blockers than prevent these types of things to show up when navigating. Or navigate using Brave browser which has a native ad blocker already installed.
Disable Java Script
Most crypto jacking code is in JavaScript. So, disabling it when navigating the internet is a sure way to prevent crypto jacking.
What to do if infected?
First as said before crypto jacking malware, most times, is not installed on the PC. So, if the computer is behaving strangely a good thing is to close all browsers and disconnect from the internet.
Second, scan for malware threats. Many crypto jacking scripts have similar design characteristics as other malware.
So, most anti-malware software will pick it up. Of course, as with most things, prevention is always better than applying the remedy.
Conclusion
With the new bull market raging across crypto markets attackers are at the ready to take advantage by using crypto scams.
Crypto jacking is once again on the rise and infecting computers all around the world. Knowledge and prevention are the best defenses against this type of malware.
For more on security read 3 Ways to Secure Your Cryptocurrency on a Mobile Device. Keep reading and learning as the world of crypto security moves fast.
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