Do you deal in cryptocurrencies?
Has your smartphone slowed down suddenly , warmed up and the battery drained down for no discernible reason?
If so, it may have been hijacked to mine cryptocurrencies over your smartphones. There’s a chance your computer or phone is quietly producing a cryptocurrency .
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This new type of cyberattack is called "cryptojacking" by security experts .
Gerome Billois, an expert at the IT service management company Wavestone, said, " It consists of entrapping an internet server, a personal computer or a smartphone to install malware to mine cryptocurrencies,"
Mining is the process of helping verification and process transactions in a given virtual currency. Miners are now and then rewarded in exchange with some of the currency themselves.
Legitimate mining operations link thousands of processors together to increase the computing power available to earn cryptocurrencies rapidly.
Mining of bitcoin, ethereum, monero and other cryptocurrencies may be very profitable, but it requires considerable investments and generates huge electricity bills. But hackers have found a cheaper option i.e secretly exploiting the processors in smartphones .
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Hackers turn to the digital world's equivalent of the Trojan horse subterfuge of Greek mythology: inside an innocuous-looking app to lure victims.
The popularity of games in the present world of gadget makes them attractive for hackers. Mining is at best a nuisance, it slows down the operation of the phone and makes it warm to the touch as the processor tries to unlock cryptocurrency and accomplish other task. Cryptojacking can affects any smartphones running with Google's Android operating system .
Steps to take to protect one's phone.
Laurent Petroque at F5 Networks, online fraud expert, said, " Besides installing an antivirus program, it is important to update Android phones to the latest version available" .
People who want to download apps from non-official sources are at more risk of downloading a malicious apps and need to adapt it constantly to the evolution of threats.