Latest Cybercrime Issue Is Enslavement Of Your Computer For Digital Currency

There is a new hacking trend in town and experts are terming it to be "cryptojacking". The crime encompasses using infected computers to make digital currency such as 'Bitcoin'. It is a hacking trend that not so surprisingly coincides with the unsteady trajectory of the digital currency, which skyrocketed in 2017, plummeted early this year and recovered in the past several days. When any unauthorised software find its way onto a network, they don't ask for ransom and they don't steal records. But what they do is stealthily harness the computing power for money making task.

Believe it or not, but the infected computer and networks are on double duty. The first one is conducting normal functions like doing remote commands such as calculations and trigger the formation of digital currency for all the wrongdoers that might as well be company insiders. On January 24, around 24,000 patients of the Decatur County General Hospital located in Parsons, Tennessee was notified in that a server of the hospital has been compromised. In another report, an Israeli firm called Radiflow reported last week that large European wastewater site has 5 of its servers infected by 'cryptojacking' malware. In these networks, the miners solve mathematical puzzles that confirms the transactions and rewards them with the cryptocurrency. There are specialized processor farms that are set up in some countries that can be used for mining Bitcoin but some digital currencies can be mined on small computers. And naturally, hackers are not looking for powerful computers.

By: Neha Maheshwari

Content: http://www.startribune.com/latest-in-cybercrime-your-infected-computer-enslaved-to-earn-digital-currency/473980363/