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First Ever Malvertising Campaign Uses JavaScript To Mine Cryptocurrencies In Your Browser (bleepingcomputer.com)
An anonymous reader writes from a report via Bleeping Computer: Malware authors are using JavaScript code delivered via malvertising campaigns to mine different cryptocurrencies inside people's browsers (mostly Monero), without their knowledge. The way crooks pulled this off was by using an online advertising company that allows them to deploy ads with custom JavaScript code. The JavaScript code is a modified version of MineCrunch (also known as Web Miner), a script released in 2014 that can mine cryptocurrencies using JavaScript code executed inside the browser. Cryptocurrency mining operations are notoriously resource-intensive and tend to slow down a user's computer. To avoid raising suspicion, crooks delivered malicious ads mainly on video streaming and browser-based gaming sites (currently mostly Ukrainian and Russian sites). Both types of sites use lots of resources, and users wouldn't get suspicious when their computer slowed down while accessing the site. Furthermore, users tend to linger more on browser games and video streaming services, allowing the mining script to do its job and generate profits for the crooks.
So this doesn't affect me.
Genius.
Despite being one of the causes of adblocker proliferation it's a nice change from the usual destructive malware in ads.
Must admit I've never really understood why advertising companies allow advertisers to run potentially unsafe code via their network. Surely it reflects badly on them and I'm too ignorant to understand the need for custom code with an advert.
It has its uses. But it has absolutely no business being used in ads, just like other Javascript over which the site owner has no control. I wish blocking 3rd party Javascript by default was an option, but that pretty much breaks all of the Internet.
If construction was anything like programming, an incorrectly fitted lock would bring down the entire building...
Why can't websites replace adverts with this, working for them?
That seems like a perfect way to get micro-transactions in a website without any micro-transaction having to occur, and it scales with time spent on the website.
Micropayments have never caught on because they're a pain to deal with. People might be willing to spend some of their CPU time though. They don't object too much to doing the millions of operations required for a few seconds of video (the objection is more the annoyance of the video itself)
I suspect CPU time is not valuable enough to make this sort of thing viable but maybe I'm wrong.
If an ad runs on your computer without authorization - it uses your computer's resources too. Is that somehow different just because ads waste less resources than mining ? What about a mining script that uses less ressources than the standard video ad - would they still be crooks ?
While I don't agree with anyone running code on a user's station without authorization, there isn't much difference between this and a common ad. Both should be illegal if you ask me. But if those guys are crooks - then what would Google Adwords be ?
What advertising network? They should be known, publicly shamed, and every website operator should know not to do business with them.
Honestly, I wish there was a way for me to report an ad that's violating browser rules. I hate when I go to a real newspaper site that uses ads, and I get served an ad that takes over the whole window, hiding stuff behind, but there's no way for me, on my phone / tablet, to know who served the ad or report the ad placement. Makes me want to block all ads everywhere on my personal devices and networks, but THAT comes with issues because many sites and even many mobile apps refuse to function if they can't talk to the ad networks and/or Google/Adobe/etc..
. Define sqrt(x) as something really evil like (x / rand()), and bury it deep. Watch your coworkers go nuts.