The cryptocurrency craze has been going on for many years now, and for a good reason. The attraction of cryptocurrency for users lies in its decentralized model, the security and anonymity it provides, and the borderless nature of crypto transactions. That, along with the potential for high returns, has accelerated cryptocurrency adoption across the globe, which has not gone unnoticed by cybercriminals.
Criminals go where the money is, as the old saying goes, and that is entirely true for cybercrime, also. With the rise of cryptocurrency have come crypto-related attacks like cryptojacking, our topic today.
Crytojacking - What it is and its impact
In its simplest form, cryptojacking is using a persons device to mine cryptocurrency without their knowledge or consent. This is usually done via installing malware that utilizes the device’s resources for crypto-mining while the user is entirely unaware. The person may be socially engineered into clicking on malicious links or installing apps that allow the malware to get a foothold into the device and start the attack.
This attack can result in a direct impact on the device’s performance, given how resource-intensive crypto-mining is, leading to higher levels, poor performance and battery life, and even ( in the case of cloud infrastructure ) higher financial costs
A report from Sysdig highlighted this and how threat actors exploit cloud misconfigurations and vulnerabilities for cryptojacking, allowing them to earn passive income maliciously. This can cause severe problems for cloud users when the overall bill for cloud consumption is calculated, as they are unaware of how their infrastructure is being exploited. Per the report, a dollar for the attacker costs the victim around USD 53, and the impact can compound over time if it goes unnoticed. The cost can also change depending on the type of cryptocurrency, the amount of computing power, and how long the attack went on.
The impact is not just financial and can have several negative consequences, such as those listed below:
● Loss of productivity for the user as the device is not able to function to its total capacity and can even be permanently damaged due to overheating
● Cost to remove the software for the user and the reputational damage if it is a company with an extensive digital footprint.
All in all, it pays to be aware of cryptojacking and to protect against it, as we will see.
How to protect against Cryptojacking
There is no magic solution against cryptojackng but instead, several good practices which must all be adopted to make this attack ineffective.
● Devices should be hardened and installed with the latest patches to ensure malware cannot exploit any vulnerabilities.
● Users should be trained on malicious links and attachments and not install any apps which are not verified.
● There are numerous browser extensions like Anti Miner, minerBlock, etc., which can detect scripts used for cryptojacking and notify users proactively.
● Users should also educate themselves on the telltale signs of cryptojacking, such as device slowdown, increased billing, popups, etc., and what actions to take if they suspect the same.
● Cloud users should implement billing alerts that proactively notify them if there is a sudden spike in billing or resource utilization.
The way forward
The popularity of cryptocurrency will not decline as it is simply faster, cheaper, and a great alternative to standard currency methods. Attackers want to hijack this popularity for their malicious reasons and target cryptocurrency and the underlying blockchain technology to make some quick money hence cryptojacking attacks are going to stay.
Cryptojacking is a unique threat in how it leeches away your device’s performance without directly impacting you and allowing the attacker to make money at your expense secretly. A combination of the methods we highlighted, such as technical controls and awareness, however, is all that is needed to protect you and your device from becoming a victim.
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