Chinese researchers have presented the first study of the fraudulent mining of cryptocurrencies.

Cryptojacking is a new illegal act when a hacker steals the processing power of a computer to mine cryptocurrency. According to AdGuard, more 200 cryptojacking have been already found on the Internet. The first case of cryptojacking was in 2017 when hackers added a script to a website to mine Monero (XMR).

Researchers analyzed the extent of cryptojacking and existing approaches to it. They were able to present a more detailed picture thanks to CMTracker, a cryptojacking detector. It found more than 800 domains containing cryptojacking. The websites with pirated content are affected most. It has been estimated, that fraudsters gained up to 1.7 mln USD from several million users. As more electricity is consumed, it costs thousands of extra kWh daily.

The study also highlights protection and mitigation measures for cyber theft. The experts suggest browser extensions, trackers and anti-virus programs. They also point out that consumers cannot turn off mining scripts, and crypto services should add a pop-up window with a notification. The team is planning to publish the source code of the tracker and a list of cryptojacking websites.

https://bitcoinmagazine.com/articles/study-reveals-growing-sophistication-malicious-mining-cryptocurrency/