We also found on Google Cache around sixty websites injected with much the same snippet of JavaScript shown in Figure The homepage of these websites injects a script from a script. This script calls URLs from various domains including static. The analysis of these scripts is covered in the next section. We also noted that one of the other injected domains, listat[.
A non-comprehensive list of affected domains is provided in the IOCs section. None of them seem to be well-known websites. Several scripts are hosted on static.
- How it is distributed.
- Crypto Mining: Definition and Function Explained?
- bitcoin price in usd converter.
The scripts with multi in their name are multithreaded while those with single use only one thread. They are the main JavaScript files that will launch the workers to mine different cryptocurrencies. Figure 13 shows that Feathercoin , Litecoin and Monero can be mined using this script. However, it seems that they are currently not mining Litecoin. Feathercoin and Litecoin are cryptocurrencies inspired by Bitcoin. The main difference is that they use different hash algorithms: neoscrypt and scrypt , respectively.
To mine them requires not only CPU power but also a large amount of memory.
The last altcoin , Monero, is different from the other two. Its main feature is stronger privacy in comparison to Bitcoin. It is hard to trace transactions because the blockchain is not transparent. In particular, it uses ring signatures to hide the sender address among several possible sender addresses. It also generates a new public key for each transfer in order to hide the real receiver. The hash algorithm used, cryptonight , also requires a lot of memory. Thus, it makes sense to choose this kind of altcoin for JavaScript mining on regular machines. As mining requires a lot of computing power, it is not surprising that the operator decided to use asm.
Three of them are provided: scrypt. Finally, the Feathercoin wallet address is the same in all the scripts, while several different Monero addresses are used. However, the same addresses are shared in several scripts; thus, we believe they all belong to the same group. As for Feathercoin, the address was not seen in the network. We are not sure of the reason for this, but it could be due to the use of a mining pool.
A quick search on Google shows that this address has already been used for several years. What they described is very similar to what we have analysed and the Feathercoin address matches.
20+ BEST Bitcoin Mining Software for Crypto Miner (2021)
At the time of that discovery, the mining script was hosted on minecrunch[. Searching for this domain leads to a topic on cryptocurrencytalk. Regarding the performance, Kukunin explains:. The C Scrypt miner was compiled to Javascript by using Emscripten to achieve the best performance. The performance is about 1. This reinforces the link between the reasedoper[. However, if the objective of MineCrunch was to propose an open service for distributed mining, the profits generated by reasedoper[.
Despite the performance downgrade of using a JavaScript miner rather than a native program, the number of visitors received by the miner website probably allows them to make profits.
What danger does Crypto Mining pose to companies and how can you protect yourself against them?
In June, there was as many DNS lookups for reasedoper[. Even if it can be considered as an alternative to traditional ads, this behavior is unwanted when there is no user consent. Thus, the developers of such services should advertise it clearly before starting mining, which is clearly not the case in a distribution scheme using malvertising. Finally, users can protect themselves against this kind of threat by having a well-configured ad blocker or script blocker add-on installed in their browser s. A potentially unsafe application , by enabling detection of Potentially UnSafe Apps.
Matthieu Faou.
Where to Mine Cryptocurrency
Figure 3 — Distribution scheme of the mining scripts. URL ; script. URL ;. Using a content blocker app is a much better approach. Follow these steps to use 1Blocker in Safari. However, if you do use Opera Touch or Mozilla Firefox, you can enable the built-in settings to block ads and crypto mining. Follow these steps to block crypto mining in Opera Touch.
Follow these steps to block cryptocurrency mining scripts on Chrome. Follow these steps to block cryptocurrency mining scripts on Firefox.
Follow these steps to block cryptocurrency mining scripts on Edge. Follow these steps to block cryptocurrency mining scripts on Opera. This should keep you safe from cryptocurrency mining on the Internet.
Generate incomes with an investment that is both ethical and profitable
Which method do you use to guard yourself from this? Let us know via the comments. For more tutorials visit our How To section. Which is the best TV under Rs. We discussed this on Orbital , our weekly technology podcast, which you can subscribe to via Apple Podcasts , Google Podcasts , or RSS , download the episode , or just hit the play button below. Cryptocurrency Prices across Indian exchanges. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. Cryptocurrency mining could be harmful for your phone or computer Many websites secretly mine Bitcoin using your machine You can stop sites from hijacking your computer to mine Bitcoin.
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