IS YOUTUBE NOW MINING CRYPTO?
The concept of in-browser mining scripts has created very reputation over past few months. No one likes the idea of someone else using their CPU to mine cryptocurrencies without agreement. This trend is now even more viral via YouTube. Video platform like YouTube is displaying adds which use visitor CPU to generate digital currency. It is a very annoying development that will fury a lot of users.
It is obvious there is growing interest in mining cryptocurrencies with someone else’s computer and computing resources. It is going on for a long time. And it seems not to be stop soon. Inserting cryptocurrency mining scripts into YouTube ads is a clever trick, but on the other hand it’s also one of the most troublesome developments in recent weeks.
According to a recent Ars Technica article, many users report the advertisement problems. It is uncertain where the ads came from or who send these ads. It is only normal that it will attract the attention of criminals as well. Also, purposefully inserting such scripts in advertisements is rather upsetting, although it seems most of these ads have been removed.
Now let me show You practical example
Ad campaign lets attackers profit while unaware users watch videos.
Live View during attack.
An other systemunder attack by the virus
CPU performance Viewer.
User complains
Here are some records of users who detected and reported about this problem.
Some dogging ads.
To add insult to injury, the malicious JavaScript displayed ads for fake AV programs, which scam people out of money and often install malware when they are run that produce a lot trouble for users
How hackers do it?
Surprisingly, of these ads, 9/10 used the Coinhive mining script, whereas the remaining one utilized a private mining JavaScript. Said script was more profitable for the attackers, as it removed the dependence on Coinhive altogether. Considering that this company charges a 30% cut of all mining profits. That’s still not legal if you use it in unfair way.
While using the visitor's computer without his/her permission is abuse that drains visitors' electricity and computing resources, The good news is there's no indication that it installs ransomware or other types of malware, as long as people don't click on malicious downloads ###So it is suggested that next time be aware of these type of malware.
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