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Over 500 Million PCs Are Secretly Mining Cryptocurrency, Researchers Reveal (newsweek.com)
Ad blocking firm AdGuard has found that over 500 million people are inadvertently mining cryptocurrencies through their computers after visiting websites that are running background mining software. The company found 220 popular websites with an aggregated audience of half a billion people use so-called crypto-mining scripts when a user opens their main page. Newsweek reports: The mining tool works by hijacking a computer's central processing unit (CPU), commonly referred to as "the brains" of a computer. Using part of a computer's CPU to mine bitcoin effects the machine's overall performance and will slow it down by using up processing power. The researchers found that bitcoin browser mining is mostly found on websites "with a shady reputation" due to the trouble such sites have with earning revenue through advertising. However, in the future it could become a legitimate and ethical way of making money if the website requests the permission of the visitor first.
"220 sites may not seem like a lot," the researchers wrote in a blogpost detailing their discovery. "But CoinHive was launched less than one month ago on September 14. The growth has been extremely rapid: from nearly zero to .22 percent of Alexa's top 100,000 websites. "This analysis well illustrates the whole web, so it's safe to say that one of every forty websites currently mines cryptocurrency (namely Monero) in the browsers their users employ."
"220 sites may not seem like a lot," the researchers wrote in a blogpost detailing their discovery. "But CoinHive was launched less than one month ago on September 14. The growth has been extremely rapid: from nearly zero to .22 percent of Alexa's top 100,000 websites. "This analysis well illustrates the whole web, so it's safe to say that one of every forty websites currently mines cryptocurrency (namely Monero) in the browsers their users employ."
The mining tool works by hijacking a computer's central processing unit (CPU), commonly referred to as "the brains" of a computer
Wow, that's amazing! Who would have thought of carrying out an attack in this manner!
Gee, none of us here knew that. Thanks a lot Sherlock, for that amazing piece of information!
sed -e 's/Chuck Norris/Rajnikant/g' joke > fact
The effect is quite audible on my macbook pro. If I visit thepiratebay results page and disable adblock plus, the fans noise up from zero to the top speed in 30 seconds. Firefox CPU usage jumps to 25%. This stops as soon as the web page is closed, of course.
17779 eligible voters in a district, 17779 'vote' as one. This is Russia.
Once the bitminer starts, the only way to stop it is to remove the CPU (brains) from the motherboard, carefully remove the thermal paste, and soak it in a solution of one part vinegar and one part Listerine (the generic Listerine also works). Leave it overnight and by morning, you should be good to go. To be safe, I'd wipe down all the internal parts with the solution, too. And, it'll leave your PC minty fresh!
You are welcome on my lawn.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: /etc/hosts (or equivalent)
cat >>
127.0.0.1 coin-hive.com
127.0.0.1 www.coin-hive.com
^D
I have no problems with coinhive, they are getting rich as fuck and good for them, but not on my dime.
I'd rather support a website with cpu cycles anonymously than advertising. They have to eat too.
For every dollar their visitors pay to the electric company, the site earns a penny. It is an incredibly inefficient way to pay for content.
We need a decent system for micropayments.