Blocking cryptojacking

[r32godzilla]

Hi recently i faced a very big change when using my laptop as it became very slow.I was not aware of the reasons.I had already read about cryptojacking in which our computers are used for cryptomining even without our consent.So i just added nocoin extention to my chrome we browser.Surprisingly,now my laptop processing speed has increased much better.So you guys too could use this nocoin extention if encountering the same problem.

Lets fight against cryptojacking.

[James_Hepp]

That's interesting, I've never heard about cryptojacking until now. But I don't think a laptop would have enough power to mine. It wouldn't even generate enough coins to be worth the effort of hacking into your machine.

How did you know that it was jacked? Did you see a process running excessively in the background? And you said by adding nocoin to your browser it stopped, so was it being run as a script?

[leowonderful]

I currently use nocoin and adblock (some are implementing browser mining blocks) on my computers, and I haven't seen any extreme CPU usage or evidence of mining on my computer since installing them. I use a 4C8T Haswell processor for doing everyday tasks, so I wasn't ever extremely affected by most sites doing browser mining, but my computer is definitely faster without it having to mine- I know that low core/thread count devices do get slowed down significantly when mining, though.

[Lucius]

Hi recently i faced a very big change when using my laptop as it became very slow.I was not aware of the reasons.I had already read about cryptojacking in which our computers are used for cryptomining even without our consent.So i just added nocoin extention to my chrome we browser.Surprisingly,now my laptop processing speed has increased much better.So you guys too could use this nocoin extention if encountering the same problem.

Lets fight against cryptojacking.

Unfortunately this is something what has become a common thing, thousands of websites make money by using users browsers (CPU) with a help of Coinhive script. Most antivirus programs block such scripts, but NoCoin extension is good addition for browser in case antivirus not doing its job as it should.

What is much more dangerous for users is crypto-malware, when such program is installed on device it will mine some coin ( usually Monero ), device will work slow and removal of such threat is much more complicated then install of browser extension.

More info can be read in this interesting article : How to detect and prevent crypto mining malware

[NeuroticFish]

Another option can be to use Process Explorer, made by SysInternals, which were bought by Microsoft. It's a free software.
While it's started it always show the CPU usage in tray. And when that usage becomes too big for too long you can see what causes it and act accordingly.
I use it for years, even before the existence of Bitcoin and cryptojacking.

Edit: I got the link for ya' https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/sysinternals/downloads/process-explorer

[mobnepal]

Thanks for letting us know about Nocoin but when I gone through reviews I found this one ;

K. Efe EgilmezModified Jun 7, 2018

In the begining it actually worked and blocked the CPU miners. But as the miners aren't stupid, they found ways to bypass the blockers. This is the reason why the developer needs to update the plugin's code regularly. It has not been updated since February 2018 and currently it does not block anything !

This mean developers are not updating their codebase and actually cryptojackers have found way to bypass this extension so it might not work in sites/applications that are not using simple <iframe> code of coinhive or similar service.

[eternalgloom]

That's interesting, I've never heard about cryptojacking until now. But I don't think a laptop would have enough power to mine. It wouldn't even generate enough coins to be worth the effort of hacking into your machine.

How did you know that it was jacked? Did you see a process running excessively in the background? And you said by adding nocoin to your browser it stopped, so was it being run as a script?

Cryptojacking is actually pretty common. They tend to mine Monero, because that still gives them rewards if it's done on a very large scale.
The people who are running the malware could have up to 100k slave computers in their network, generating them thousands of dollars per day/week.

It's usually pretty easy to notice too, when your CPU goes through the roof.

Running noscript is also a solution btw.

[James_Hepp]

That's interesting, I've never heard about cryptojacking until now. But I don't think a laptop would have enough power to mine. It wouldn't even generate enough coins to be worth the effort of hacking into your machine.

How did you know that it was jacked? Did you see a process running excessively in the background? And you said by adding nocoin to your browser it stopped, so was it being run as a script?

Cryptojacking is actually pretty common. They tend to mine Monero, because that still gives them rewards if it's done on a very large scale.
The people who are running the malware could have up to 100k slave computers in their network, generating them thousands of dollars per day/week.

It's usually pretty easy to notice too, when your CPU goes through the roof.

Running noscript is also a solution btw.

Yeah actually I think one of my browsers fell victim to it now that you mention it. It wasn't too bad, but I noticed higher than usual load times and it was quite slow with page load times. CPU wasn't excessively high, but more than normal. I just installed nocoin so will see if there's much of a difference.

I saw this the other day at the bottom of the page at the Pirate Bay:

"By entering TPB you agree to XMR being mined using your CPU. If you don't agree please leave now or install an adBlocker"

It's like giving permission for cookies. What a crazy world we live in now.

[hugeblack]

As far as I know, the way that hackers can use your PC to mine cryptos "cryptojacking" is either to install an application that contains some viruses that enable mining or Javascript files.
So following tips such as:

 - Don’t download any unknown application.
 - Block Javascript "you can enable it for trusted sites."

will give better results than those additions/extensions.
Btw, I check NoCoin code and It Looks like a blacklist of sites. "adblocks" ----> https://github.com/keraf/NoCoin

[keychainX]

Thanks for letting us know about Nocoin but when I gone through reviews I found this one ;

K. Efe EgilmezModified Jun 7, 2018

In the begining it actually worked and blocked the CPU miners. But as the miners aren't stupid, they found ways to bypass the blockers. This is the reason why the developer needs to update the plugin's code regularly. It has not been updated since February 2018 and currently it does not block anything !

This mean developers are not updating their codebase and actually cryptojackers have found way to bypass this extension so it might not work in sites/applications that are not using simple <iframe> code of coinhive or similar service.

There is a HUGE crypto jacking scam uncovered today with over 70.000 routers being infected in Brazil alone. (As of August 4th 2018).

If you have a  MikroTik-brand internet router hackers were able to exploit unauthenticated  remote connection installing Coinhive to mine Monero
to one single address.

The source revealing the fraud was a Chicago Based IT company called Trustwave.