It’s so tempting if you are a technology specialist with access to some pretty big computers to go ahead and mine crypto with it while no-one is looking. That’s what Russia found when some top-secret nuclear facilities’ computers were being used to mine Bitcoin.
We’ve also heard of apps installed on phones coming complete with their own mining software, the user wondering why their phone has the battery life of an AAA battery trying to power a 100 watt light. So now a new type of virus is born. Not one that will disable your computer and want ransom money, but one that secretly mines cryptocurrency for someone in the background while you struggle to write that letter on your word processor.
How can you tell if you’ve been hacked?
Well, it’s quite hard to do – the reason being that this kind of hack doesn’t want to stop your computer working. However, with proper anti-virus software and firewalls, you should be able to protect yourself. If your Windows computer is running slowly it’s probably not a cryptocurrency miner on your system, more likely just a lack of maintenance. But if it very suddenly slowed down after you installed a new game you probably need to get the latest anti-virus on your PC.
What about your company?
Okay, I’m a technology specialist, right now I could be running a mining farm in our server room – I’m not, by the way, but it would be pretty easy. For me it’s about trust. I wouldn’t steal from my firm and that includes time and money in terms of computing power.
Be Safe
Make sure you only let people on your computers you trust. Make sure you have up to date and working anti-virus and firewall software and you SHOULD be safe.
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