If you are an active user of the Internet, you must know there have been several cases of Cryptojacking in the past couple of years. And yes, it is closely related to Cryptocurrencies. As you are reading this article, I am sure you know the basics of Cryptocurrency.
In short, Cryptojacking is the hacking of other people’s computers to mine Cryptocurrency. Since the popularity is on the rise, hackers too are finding new ways to perform Cryptojacking.
You must be aware of the news about Elon Musk investing a whopping 1.5 Billion dollars on Bitcoins. This has led people to invest more and more in Bitcoins. Since people are investing heavily in Bitcoins, the price of Bitcoins has started making records.
So it is but natural that hackers will also find ways of Cryptojacking. So without wasting any further time, let us know what Cryptojacking is in detail.
What Does The Term ‘Cryptojacking’ Mean?
Like I mentioned in the introduction, Cryptojacking is the illegal use of someone else’s PC to mine Cryptocurrencies, Bitcoins in particular. These sort of dodgy activities are usually done by hackers. There are several ways in which hackers perform cryptojacking.
Some of these methods include making the victim click on suspicious links through email; these emails contain crypto-mining code. Another infamous way of performing Cryptojacking is by infecting websites online.
All in all, cryptojacking can only be performed when a crypto mining code is on a computer; it is basically a program that runs in the background. Most victims are not able to notice it since there are no major performance issues when it runs in the background. The computer just gets a little slower.
Cryptojacking 101. How Is It Performed?
There are mainly three ways in which Cryptojacking is performed. Keep reading to know about the ways in which Cryptocurrency is performed.
Social Engineering
Social engineering is the most popular way of performing Cryptojacking. It is very easy to perform. All you need to do is befriend the victim and use several social tactics to get him to install an app or open an email that contains the Cryptomining code from his Personal Computer.
Phishing Attack
Phishing is one of the most infamous hacking activities. When a legitimate-looking email is sent to the victim. The victim opens it, not knowing the contents of the email. When the victim clicks on the link to the email, Cryptojacking codes get installed.
Injecting Malicious Script
This is the least popular way of Cryptojacking. But it is a form of Cryptojacking nonetheless. Over here, a hacker injects malicious scripts on an ad and then gets the ad on different websites. If you have ever visited a torrent website, you must know what I am talking about.
Have you ever noticed your PC slowing down when you are using torrent? It happens because the ads of most torrent websites have Cryptomining codes in them.
How Does The Crypto Mining Code Work?
Cryptomining code is the main code that runs while Cryptojacking takes place. This code runs a set of complicated mathematical problems and the PC of the victim and sends the results back to the server of the hacker.
According to Alex Vaystikh, out of the 100 devices that are mining Cryptocurrencies, 90% of them are mining for them, and 10% are mining for hackers. The funny part of Cryptomining is that some Cryptomining Code has worming capabilities. These allow the hacking of entire servers or networks.
A Cryptoming code can also include different versions to account for different architectures. These scripts can also be used to check if the device has already been hacked or not. All in all, Cryptomining code is one of the essential parts of Cryptojacking.
Read Also: What Is Bitcoin Mining: A Step By Step Guide
What Made Cryptojacking So Popular In Today’s World?
Since Cryptocurrencies are getting popular, crypto-jacking is also getting popular. The weird thing about Cryptojacking is that nobody knows for sure how many Cryptocurrencies can be mined by Cryptojacking.
But the fact is that it is used by hackers quite extensively. At first, browser-based cryptojacking was on the rise, but today all sorts of Cryptojacking are getting popular.
Cryptojacking is a very popular activity in Russia; that is why you are going to notice, most torrent websites are Russian. The main reason why cryptojacking is becoming so popular is hackers think that Cryptocurrencies give more money and it also has less risk.
The main reason why hackers keep implementing the uses of Cryptojacking is that cryptojacking is less traceable, and the risk of getting caught is much less well.
Read More: Why Are Cryptocurrencies So Popular – Best Answer Of 2021
Advantages Of Cryptojacking
Cryptojacking provides a lot of advantages to hackers, which is why it is so popular among hackers.
- Very Easy and Less Risk – For implementing methods of Cryptojacking is comparatively simple when compared to other forms of hacking and malicious activities. All you need to do is use phishing activities, sending emails, and use effective social engineering tactics.
- Not Traceable – It is not 100% not traceable, but it is untraceable by a lot. Government authorities and the police are not able to track back the methods of Cryptojacking to the sender’s computer or the receiver’s computer. Since the whole process is decentralized, whatever happens, is between the two parties.
Crypto-jacking Examples
The incident with Malicious Docker with the malicious docker is a memorable one. Back in 2020, the network of Palo Alto discovered docking images from a malicious docker with the intention of cryptojacking. According to the $36,000 were hacked using malicious Cryptojacking methods.
Final Thoughts On Cryptojacking
There you go now; you know everything that you are required to know about Cryptojacking. It is one of the worst practices on the Internet. The only reason why I think Cryptojacking is gaining popularity is that it is very easy to do.
A person who has very little knowledge about coding and hacking can also perform Cryptojacking. I personally feel this as a person who takes a keen interest In Cryptocurrencies; if you have some further questions, kindly drop them down below in the comment section.
