Threat Brief: Drive-by Mining - Adapting an Old Attack to Mine Cryptocurrencies
Summary: Unit 42 reported that cybercriminals have adapted drive-by browser attacks to hijack visitors' computing power and mine cryptocurrency for the attacker's credit on malicious or compromised sites, without consent or knowledge. Researchers analyzed over 1,000 sites, and noted Bitcoin rose 579% and Ethereum 4,206% between January 2 and October 16, 2017.
Why it matters: These attacks abuse legitimate browser functionality rather than unpatched vulnerabilities, so full patching does not stop them - and the only reliable exit for an affected user is leaving the site or closing the browser.
Read the original at Unit 42 Palo Alto Networks ↗
- Topics
- Malware
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