What is Cryptojacking? The term cryptocurrency is no more uncommon. Many of you must have known it already! To put it simply; these are de-centralized digital currencies which can be employed to purchase or sell anything. To generate these currencies; you need a system (computer) to mine them. This is where Cryptojacking comes in. Read this guide to understand what is Cryptojacking.
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Cryptojacking Explained
Simply stated, Cryptojacking is a way for hackers to make money (Cryptocurrencies) using the hardware of their victims.
How the hackers perform this mining is by using the computers of their targets to run complicated computations that create new tokens in the cryptocurrency world. In other words, they use up your processing power to make virtual money. This process can be implemented either through malware or through a browser.
This is critical because it ends up eating up your processing power, sometimes even overwhelming your system, without you even knowing it. It’s very difficult (but not impossible) to know when your device is being used for Cryptojacking.
What’s the Difference Between CryptoJacking and Crypto Mining?
Crypto miners are people whose job is to mine new cryptocurrency tokens. Cryptojacking is unauthorized and illegal crypto mining.
Authentic crypto miners use their own systems to mine the currencies. That way, they can optimize those systems to be able to handle the processing power needed for the mining. Hackers don’t care if your system can manage the process or not. They’ll be making money while you suffer the burden of overwhelmed hardware all by yourself.
How Does CryptoJacking Work?
A hacker can use your computer to mine cryptocurrency in two ways:
- By infecting your system with malware.
- By injecting a script on a website or an ad.
If your computer gets infected by malware; the crypto mining process will run silently in the background at all times. It’ll slow your processing power down but won’t actually affect your data in any way.
The second crypto jacking technique doesn’t even need the target to install or click on anything. The attacker will insert a piece of JavaScript code into a website or an ad delivered to multiple sites. The hackers use the user’ computer to mine cryptocurrency the moment they access the website. Read on to know more about What is Cryptojacking.
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How to Identify CryptoJacking?
If the hacker is employing any website or ad to crypto jack; then you don’t have to detect it. This will fall on the owners of the sites themselves.
However, malware is a different story. It’s not always detectable without an anti-malware program, but the tell-tale signs are:
- Overheating.
- Slow response times on your computer.
- High CPU usages (which you can check in Task Manager)
- Frequently run a full anti-malware check to see if your system is protected or not.
Precaution against CryptoJacking
There are a few things you can do to protect yourself from possible crypto jacking.
- First, always have a trusted anti-malware program installed on your system.
- Make sure that’s it’s continuously up-to-date. There are anti-malware programs that can detect crypto-miners in browsers, too.
- You can also install a browser extension on most browsers that blacklists mining scripts. This makes it easier for you to figure out when a website is using you for crypto mining. If you do notice a site doing that, all you have to do is change tabs or exit the browser.
- Finally, you can use a VPN service to protect your data and traffic, even from crypto jacking scams.
Conclusion -What is Cryptojacking?
Eventually, it all boils down to how cautious you become over the web and whether or not you follow cyber hygiene. It’s always better to be safe than sorry. We expect this guide would be a help for you to learn everything about Crypto jacking and how to prevent it. Let us know your feedback in the comments below.
