CoinMiner  -

CryptoJacking

Cryptojacking is defined as the secret use of your computing device to mine cryptocurrency.

Cryptojacking used to be confined to the victim unknowingly installing a program that secretly mines cryptocurrency.

Here’s the bad news…

In-browser cryptojacking doesn’t need a program to be installed.

I found this out when Jascha, a Hacker Bits subscriber, emailed us about an article in Issue 22 that was doing in-browser cryptojacking.

Below, you’ll find out more about in-browser cryptojacking and how to protect yourself.

How does in-browser cryptojacking work?
In-browser cryptojacking uses JavaScript on a web page to mine for cryptocurrencies.

JavaScript runs on just about every website you visit, so the JavaScript code responsible for in-browser mining doesn’t need to be installed.

If you think it’s nothing, think again…

You load the page, and the in-browser mining code just runs. No need to install, and no need to opt-in.

Currently (Nov 2017), in-browser mining is available for the Monero cryptocurrency.