Cryptojacking

Right now, your computer might be using its memory and processor power – and your electricity – to generate money for someone else, without you ever knowing. It's called "crypto jacking
Instead of minting coins or printing paper money, creating new units of cryptocurrencies, which is called "mining," involves performing complex mathematical calculations. These intentionally difficult calculations securely record transactions among people using the cryptocurrency and provide an objective record of the "order" in which transactions are conducted.
The user who successfully completes each calculation gets a reward in the form of a tiny amount of that cryptocurrency. That helps offset the main costs of mining, which involve buying advanced computer processors and paying for electricity to run them. It is not surprising that enterprising cryptocurrency enthusiasts have found a way to increase their profits, mining currency for themselves by using other people's processing and electrical power.


There are two forms of crypto jacking; one is like other malware attacks and involves tricking a user into downloading a mining application to their computer. It's far easier, however, just to lure visitors to a webpage that includes a script their web browser software runs or to embed a mining script in a common website. Another variant of this latter approach is to inject crypto mining scripts into ad networks that legitimate websites then unknowingly serve to their visitors.

What harm does crypto jacking do?

The amount of electricity a computer uses depends on what it's doing. Mining is very processor-intensive – and that activity requires more power. So a laptop's battery will drain faster if it's mining, like when it's displaying a 4K video or handling a 3-D rendering.
Similarly, a desktop computer will draw more power from the wall, both to power the processor and to run fans to prevent the machine from overheating. And even with proper cooling, the increased heat can take its own toll over the long term, damaging hardware and slowing down the computer.
Cryptocurrency mining can be a legitimate source of revenue – but not when done secretly or by hijacking others' computers to do the work and having them pay the resulting financial costs