Beware of browser miners, hidden in web pages

A MALWARE IS CONSIDERED

By Alex Vallenilla / @alexvallenilla

With the appearance of cryptocurrencies, any number of software projects and developments of all kinds have arisen that have to do with blockchain technology. New companies, a new way of making payments and purchases through the Internet, new modalities for financial speculation using digital assets as underlying, but also along with these have appeared harmful activities, which would be normal in an entire economic system, only that users must learn to recognize and confront them.

 

  

One of them is the applications of "mining", using browsers and that are usually installed on websites and that use the computer resources of the user's computer to carry out the activity.

One of them is Coinhive. It is a site that provides users with the benefit of cryptocurrency mining that does not require sophisticated equipment for this purpose. One of the cryptocurrencies most used in this is the Monero (XMR), which can be "mined" using a GPU or CPU and through a connection to the Internet, with a Java script code, inserted in an html code , can be incorporated into any website and convert said page into a "miner" once a user accesses the content of it.

Coinhive has other characteristics, it also allows mining by providing a button that asks the user to collaborate with the content, by clicking accepting that to enter the web, it allows for a few moments that its resources are used to download some tokens, which It is understood as a form of payment, but in this case, it is previously warned and then approved or not by the end user.

In the other case, there are websites that deliberately use the code and when a user accesses the page in question, the installed script accesses the processor of the visiting computer, so it uses its processing power, as programmed in the code, which usually slows down personal computers while staying on the site.

The fact that the user is not requested or even warned, has resulted in this modality being considered a Trojan or a virus, so the antivirus software has updated their databases and helps detect these invasive programs that will generate profit to third parties without the web user knowing or agreeing to it.

An updated antivirus neutralizes the connection, despite entering the page, this warns of the threat. In case there is no such update, the user could perceive how slow his browser or computer is doing, while he remains in that site, which is a sign that they are using their processor from a remote connection to generate some coins to a programmer unethical. 05/25/2018