Cryptominer
A cryptominer steals what we rarely think of as a target: our computing power and our electricity. In the background it uses our processors and graphics cards to mine cryptocurrency for the attacker while we pay the bill. It has no interest in our data, only in our resources and how much of them there is.
Term
description · examples · notesA cryptominer steals what we rarely think of as a target: our computing power and our electricity. In the background it uses our processors and graphics cards to mine cryptocurrency for the attacker while we pay the bill. It has no interest in our data, only in our resources and how much of them there is.
Description
It arrives through compromised servers, through vulnerabilities, through an infected site that mines while it is open in the browser, and even in the cloud through a hijacked account that runs up machines on someone else's account. In the cloud the damage is most visible, because resources are billed by consumption.
The results are slow systems, overheating devices, shortened hardware life, higher electricity bills and stalled machines in the cloud. It is the neighbor tapping into your water and power while you suspect nothing until the bills arrive.
Examples
- A server suddenly runs at full capacity and slows everything else down, though nothing in particular was changed.
- The fans in the computer are loud, although it was cleaned out last month.
- The monthly invoices for cloud machines are higher than expected. The vendor did not raise prices and you changed nothing.
Notes
- A cryptominer steals capacity rather than data — which is why it goes unnoticed for longer.
- A sudden jump in consumption — processor, electricity, cloud — with nothing behind it is a signal, not a coincidence.
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Techniques
carried out with 4Techniques used to carry it out. Select one to open its page.
Defenses
countered by 6How it is defended against. Select one to open its page.