Crypto Mining is the process used to attempt to generate cryptocurrency. It requires a substantial amount of resources and because of this, groups of people often join resources to gain more computing power. Crypto Mining in and of itself is not bad. It is almost impossible to create a coin with the resources you have access to.
A new form of hacking has started called Crypto Jacking. Crypto Jacking is when your computer resources are hijacked to start running the crypto algorithms to create a crypto coin. This can be done without you knowing. Scripts can be added to websites via javascript which will use your resources as long as you are on a website. Usually the site itself has also been hacked so the provider isn’t aware it is happening. Sometimes people are bold about using your resources. If you are using an ad-blocker and go to the news site Salon.com you will get a prompt informing you that you can either watch their ads or allow your computer resources to be used for coin mining while you use the site.
Why is all this important to businesses? If your computers are being hijacked to mine for crypto currencies, then your employees’ computers are running slower which can cause a loss in productivity or cause you to purchase unneeded bandwidth or hardware. The scripts are easy to install and it is becoming more common for employees to intentionally add the software to machines at their offices.
It is more important than ever for businesses to make sure they have the proper security policies and procedures in place to help prevent these types of attacks.