CRYPTOJACKING, A Serious Concern

CryptoJacking, a serious matter to be concerned about. Ever wondered why your phone gets heated while surfing websites of various natures?? Ever wondered why the system fan of your laptop or desktop runs furiously while surfing the internet?? It’s an issue many of us ignore but it is high time to be concerned about.

The latest cyber-threat has started reaching millions already. First of all, let us make it clear what a Crypto currency is. Crypto currency denotes a digital currency whose rates are uniform across the globe but may vary every minute. Bitcoin is the most valuable Crypto currency available at present. The present rate of Bitcoin is $7449.6 ( the moment I am writing this piece). Other Crypto currencies include Monero, Litecoin, Zcash, Ethereum, Dash, Ripple, etc.

Crypto currency is what gives rise to CryptoJacking. Similarly, as Hijacking, Cryptojacking means the hijacking your PC’s or Smartphone’s internals like CPU, RAM, etc. The motive behind this is to mine cryptocurrency. Though it is not possible to mine Bitcoin out of a smartphone’s hardware, Monero can easily be mined by this process. The present rate of Monero is $87.33 which is also quite profitable. Mining of cryptocurrency takes place by the utilisation of the CPUs power of your smartphone, laptop or desktop.

This may not prove as a threat to many of the smartphone users. But in reality this is almost an illegal way of earning. Imagine your smartphone getting heated up every time you visit a certain site. The life of your smartphone decreases drastically in that case. The heat generated may also diffuse the battery of your smartphone which reduces its affinity and it would drain much faster than before. For a desktop or laptop, more usage of desktops or laptops means more consumption of power. More consumption of power will shoot the electricity bills which means indirectly you have to pay a so-called free website.

The main striking element responsible for this is the use of certain JavaScript which enables the hackers to utilise the power of your electronic devices. The preventive measures are the use of certain extensions in your browsers to block the JavaScripting techniques. Chrome has its own extension to block harmful JavaScript to your smart devices. Mozilla Firefox also has this potential. But, the UC Browser has no such extensions. UC is the most unsafe way to browse the internet. The extensive use of the UC in the smartphone sector has created a great helping zone for malicious CryptoJackers to pry your internal elements of the smartphone and finally utilise them to mine Crypto Currency.

Malicious sites include, most importantly, The Pirate Bay. The torrent providing websites have enormous collection of malicious content ready to steal all your privacy and the stability of your operating system. The CryptoJackers primarily eye the torrent seeking internet visitors to do their needful in mining Crypto currency essentially named as CryptoJacking. Another important area for CryptoJackers is the Porn Industry. Most of the free porn websites are used by CryptoJackers to mine Crypto currency. If you addicted to porn, be a member of a branded porn and the have your content ready. By visiting malicious links and websites you compromise you privacy and data in every possible way.

Don’t forget, you can never be fooled unless you fool yourself. By trusting someone unworthy you actually fool yourself. Research and find out which browser is the most useful for your own needs. Research and find out which websites are best suited for your needs. Research and dig out the best for you. Don’t trust anyone because they also might be victims of trusting someone else. You know your own needs and hence you must proceed according to that. Do Forget, You are One-of-a-Kind.