Beware! Porn sites could be using your CPU’s power for crypto mining

With the surge in the price of cryptocurrency especially Bitcoin which is trading above $16,000, an increase in crypto mining has also been observed. As we earlier reported that some sneaky websites are using your CPU’s power to mine cryptocurrency without your approval and even when the browser is closed, now a new study of researchers reveal that cryptojacking has also become a part of widely used porn sites. Even the Wifi in your town’s cafe could be used for crypto mining.

Cryptojacking was first observed back in September when visitors of a torrent site reported a weird activity with their browsers. Whenever these sites were opened by the user, they faced a clear difference in the performance of the CPU. The administrators of these websites were using a new tool called Coinhive. The administrator simply installs a simple script to a webpage, which is able to use some power of visitor’s CPU, without permission to mine the cryptocurrency known as Monero.

See Also: Google Chrome to block third-party software injections to prevent crashing

The researchers at AdGuard revealed in a post that websites offering videos including porn sites are most likely to be using these scripts. The report has also mentioned four popular streaming sites including OnlineVideoConverter and RapidVideo, were found guilty of crypto jacking visitors of their sites.

The cafes and coffee shops you are visiting in your towns could also have vulnerable Wifi networks which may be used to mine cryptocurrencies. Recently a Starbucks cafe’s Wifi network was found guilty to be using Coinhive to mine cryptocurrency from customers’ connected devices.

A security firm Trustware estimates that if Coinhive runs on a computer 24 hours a day it can add up to $5 in user’s monthly electricity bill.

The relieving factor is that Coinhive can’t run for 24-hours a day. It is supposed to run only when a site’s browser is open in one of your system’s window. However, some cryptojackers have been using your CPU’s processing power even when you close browser, by opening a window behind user’s taskbar.

Image Source: Coin Telegraph