Cryptojacking is the use of your computer by a cybercriminal to mine cryptocurrency without you being aware. Cryptocurrency, such as bitcoin, is very valuable and can be mined using the victims process power, without even noticing. This usually occurs when a website runs hidden cryptocurrency mining scripts in the browser of the victim. Why do they do this?
Cryptocurrency can be worth a lot of money if you have the right resources to mine it. This can be used as payment on certain websites with 1 bitcoin currently worth around £5,700. Criminals therefore use your computer to create tokens of value, which get deposited to the hacker whilst the abilities to mine is used by the hacker on the victim’s system (electricity, computer processing power etc). They use you to make money for themselves.
To get around this, the best method to stay safe is to install a cryptojacking blocker. If you don’t feel like this is necessary, adblocker will also help.
For more information on cryptojacking and cybersecurity, please contact us via email or phone at 01329 888444.
