Identify, Fix, and Recoup from the Nuisance of Cryptojacking Malware

The Villains in movies, fairy-tales, and fictional fantasy are vicious, always haunting the better side of the Heroes. No matter how strong a superhero poses to be, s/he always needs a helping hand to puff the bad guy away. 

That’s when the calling goes for his/her sidekick. Both together battle the challenges thrown at them by the villain. 

Turning the sides to reality, a computer or any other electronic device may not be “The Superhero”, but it surely has many villains under different versions of malware.

The rising and glowing threat that devices are facing today is; Cryptojacking malware. Yes, if you think it has something to do with Cryptocurrencies, then you are right. 

It is the BlockChain technology which gave rise to this digital asset and fostered the exchange of goods, services, as well as real money. 

This rise and tide of Cryptojacking malware is also due to the increase in Cryptocurrency apps that invade the market through various platforms, like the iOS, Android, or .Net development services.

Ever since we saw Bitcoin in 2009, the cryptocurrency has been running through the veins to the people. However, as we say it, “Two sides of the same coin”. The Digital asset now faces an attack/threat from malware. 

Before revealing the sidekick/s (read; malware solutions), let’s figure out why people need to prepare against Cryptojacking malware. 

The Menace of Crypto Jacking

An attack on the computer or Digital devices isn’t everything about Cryptojacking. In fact, the malware is designed to hijack the user’s system and take illegal control over the assets, which are Monero and Bitcoin. 

Are they here for only mining the coins? Are there any other complications that tag along? 

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Sure… your digital device will move to run at a slow pace. It may seem easy to detect hijack, but the consequences of Cryptojacking are sometimes the elephant in the room.

The attack runs like a secret agent in the background and continues increasing power consumption. The result? The owners of Bitcoin or any other digital currency are taken aback by the large bill. 

How Do Technology villains get inside the system?

The rare availability of the currency has hindered the pillars of supply and demand. People (say, hackers) who are not getting their hands on enough digital currencies hijack machines for earning that extra bit of money.

All a hijacker needs to do is throw malicious email on the owner’s digital device. With one single, his/her fishing tactics hit the bull’s eye. 

In the next moment, hackers begin to mine for codes and to Cryptomining scripts. All of this is performed very neatly under the table without the owner’s knowledge.

Sometimes the users are witty enough to suspect such malicious emails and avoid getting trailed away by the phishing attack. 

Howbeit, in movies, defending against the villain has never stopped them, then why would hackers stop at malicious emails? 

Web browser miner is yet another way, which brings hacker into the digital devices of the owner. The website or ads tamper under this process and the moment a user clicks on any advertisement the Cryptomining script infects the victim’s computer. 

In both situations, the injected code solves mathematical problems and reaps the benefit, only to send it to  hacker’s server in the end.

Sherlock Theory: Detecting The Malware

The Sherlock theory advises always to suspect unusual activity. Prompt the investigation like you have seen the trouble for the very first.

A lot of owners tend to ignore the slow processing of the system, as they have sunk in the habit of working with such interruptions. However, this  the point where you can be at threat of Cryptojacking. 

The chances of avoiding a malicious email, ad or, a website may be low, but a sooner realization of hacking symptoms have better chances for resolution. 

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Other 2 ways which can indicate the invasion of Cryptojacking are; high usage of the processor and overheating of device time and again. 

Finding an Armour for the Malware

Time to contact the sidekick/s for rescuing the Digital device hero from malware villains.

Look down at the market options, tons of anti-virus software can help in holding the malware outside the bay of the device. Certain anti-virus systems are designed and give more attention to resolving Cryptojacking threats.

This is one of the sidekicks (read; solution) prevent the malware attack. 

However, if the solution had to be so simple, we wouldn’t be reading about Cryptojacking all over the internet. So, as a result, owners need to add more security measures involving, ad-blocking or anti-crypto mining extensions.

Moreover, always keep a suspicious eye on emails and attachments that sound strange. Unless necessary, do not even hover on such skeptical contents. 

The third solution that can be both a boon and bane to the owner’s device is to block JavaScript. 

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The action may block the interruption caused by the malware, at the same time, certain function ruled by JavaScript may fail to perform. Thus, using this trick is solely at the user’s discretion.

Surging attacks of Cyberthreat

The sources and reason for Cryptjacking malware is still a mystery. While you take precaution and measures to detect the threat, other technologies are facing the attack of other Cyberthreats.

We can say that malware attack and data security threats are a few of the consequences of having stupendous technologies. 

Every time a hacker builds a cyber attack, the method, and modes of invasion are different. So, it may seem like cybersecurity rules out the malware attack, when in reality, new Cyberthreats keep emerging, as long we have Internet technology.

One of the reasons why cryptocurrency became the hot topic in security attacks is due to the glitz and glamour of Bitcoin. Hackers found it an easy and invisible trick to earn money in the name of the device owner. 

Now here’s a vital piece of information;

Did you know? Sources say that for Cryptojacking to work, there is no need to own Cryptocurrencies. A person can become the victim, even without ownership. 

In the end, all we say is keep your eyes open to any unusual activity and let us know if you know more tricks to detect Cryptojacking within a system.