Cryptomining Malware Sees 230% Increase in Q3 2022 / Digital Information World

The recent shockwaves that were sent through the crypto world have made various crypto tokens extremely affordable, and it has also resulted in the entire industry experiencing an extended bear market with all things having been considered and taken into account. In spite of the fact that this is the case, malicious actors are still not letting up and are continuing to use cryptominers to profit from mining malware by infecting users who download pirated content from the internet.

With all of that having been said and now out of the way, it is important to note that there has been a 230% increase in cryptominer usage in the third quarter of 2022 alone, as reported by Kaspersky. There are now over 150,000 distinct cryptominers that are being used because of the fact that this is the sort of thing that could potentially end up allowing malicious actors to earn tens of thousands of dollars.

Monero is a popular cryptocurrency for these malicious actors since it allows them to stay more under the radar than might have been the case otherwise, but bitcoin is also being mined with these programs. The people who are infecting users with these mining programs often disguise them as being useful programs or cracks that can allow users to use paid programs free of charge.

Criminals can hijack computer systems and use their processing power to mine crypto. This is useful considering the high cost of electricity these days which has forced many legitimate miners to close up shop for the short term. Avoiding pirated content and software can be a useful way to avoid having your own systems used for such illicit purposes, but it will take a long time before this information makes its way into the mind of the average user.

Victims are often left with slow computer systems due to much of the processing power going towards crypto mining. They also get left with immense electricity bills and they often don’t know the reason for the bill being so high. Something must be done to curtail this activity because it is seriously hurting end users around the world.