Belarusian car sales website stealthily mines cryptocurrencies

Photo: pixabay.com
Photo: pixabay.com

Internet users have detected a cryptocurrency mining malware on aw.by - a major portal in Belarus that publishes ads on the sale of cars and spare parts. Those who enter the website will experience a 100% load on their computers' processor, the computing power of which is used to mine cryptocurrency Monero, reports 42.tut.by.

Visitors are not aware of being used.

In cryptocurrency networks, mining is a validation of transactions. For this effort, successful miners obtain new cryptocurrency as a reward. The reward decreases transaction fees by creating a complementary incentive to contribute to the processing power of the network. Usually, very powerful processors are needed for mining. But, browser-based miners too allow to distribute the load between numerous less powerful devices.

In October 2017, a miner appeared on the website of the Minsk watch factory Luch. However, it opened requested visitors to use the computing power of their PCs. It later turned out that unknown offenders had added the malware script to the website without the knowledge of the factory.

In January 2018,  ESET anti-virus company said a browser-based miner topped the rating of cyber threats for Belarusian internet users, having affected 12.45% of users.