Posts from Online Tech Tips for 04/25/2019

In this issue: What is Cryptojacking and How Do I Stop It? - [View in browser]( Wednesday, April 24, 2019 What is Cryptojacking and How Do I Stop It? by Guy McDowell | [Online Tech Tips]( You know about [malware and ransomware](. You know what a computer virus is and probably had one. But do you know about cryptojacking? Cryptojacking is a bit like ransomware, but stealthy and potentially worth more money to the criminals that use it. While ransomware takes your data hostage until you pay the ransom, cryptojacking uses your computer or phone’s resources to mine cryptocurrencies like Monero or Ethereum. You may never know that it is there. The only thing you might notice is that your computer isn’t working as well or fast as it used to. Why is Cryptojacking a Big Deal? You might be thinking, “If I won’t even notice cryptojacking, it doesn’t cost me anything, and it doesn’t harm anything, why should I care?” The money made from these sorts of criminal operations don’t just go to hacker’s living in the basement buying expensive booze and fancy watches. The money could be supporting organized crime or state-sponsored cyberwar. According to [hackmageddon.com]( over 81% of hacking events in 2018 were cybercrime based and almost 3% were classified as cyberwarfare. They’ve got to pay for all that hacking somehow. How Does Cryptojacking Malware Get on a Computer? Cryptojackers invade your computer in several ways. Sometimes you can get it from opening an infected attachment in an e-mail or clicking on a phishing link on a website. Or it might show up inside of a browser attachment that you installed for a legitimate reason. That’s like the traditional way that viruses were spread. If the cryptojacker gets on your computer this way, it will run in the background on your computer all the time, quietly digging up cryptocoins. The drive-by cryptojacking is more devious. It will hide on a website or in an ad just waiting to show up on your computer. Then it will start mining with your computer if you are on that website or that ad is showing. The cryptojacker is unloaded when you leave the site, leaving no trace that it was ever there. Do I Have a Cryptojacker on My Computer or Phone? It used to be obvious. Your [CPU usage would spike to near 100%]( and your computer would crawl when you only had maybe one program open or just browsing a website. Hackers using cryptojackers are getting wiser though and it will get harder and harder to stop. When they first started, they would consume as much of your CPU power as they could. This alarmed people to its existence though. Now, they’re using less resources on any single computer, but trying to hit as many computers as possible. How Do I Stop Cryptojacking? Keep practicing [good computer security]( and [use your smartphone’s security features](. Make sure you’re using an antivirus app, keep your operating system up to date, and allow your browser to update freely. Most major security apps have cryptojacker detection and protection now. Look at getting antivirus and security apps like [ESET]( [Avast!]( or [Norton](. If you want to make sure a drive-by cryptojacker isn’t running in your browser, you can try extensions for Chrome like [Coin-Hive Blocker]( [No-Coin]( or [minerBlock](. Try [No-miner]( or [minerBlock]( for Firefox. All major browsers are continuing to bake-in security features with each update, so let those updates happen. Is There a Good Use for Cryptojacking? There might be. It could be used as an alternate revenue source to support web sites and apps. Some sites will ask you if they may use a javascript-based cryptominer on your computer while you’re on their site, some will not. The Pirate Bay, Salon.com, UFC.com, and others have tried this in the past. People did not respond well. As a method of revenue generating, it appears to have small gains for the high cost of user alienation. The Future of Cryptojacking Is cryptojacking going to be an ongoing threat? If cryptocurrencies continue to have real world value, it will. But how much of a threat will it be to you? Hackers are getting wiser. They’re realizing that stealing pennies from millions is much harder to stop than stealing thousands from a few. Cryptojacking will be a minor nuisance to you and your computer use. The social cost from it being used to fund more evil schemes may continue to grow. Do what you can to stop it. Keep your antivirus up to date and continue to update your operating system and browser. If most of us can do that, we’ll keep cryptojacking a minor threat. You may also like these other posts from OTT: [6 Best Mobile Payment Apps]( [7 Ways to Print Documents When You’re Out of the House]( [The Best Smart Security Systems for Under $500]( [How to Record Internal Audio and Video on an Android Smartphone]( [The Best Windows 10 Video Game Subscription Services]( Check out more posts from our publishing family: Help Desk Geek Posts [The 6 WordPress Plugins You MUST Have On Each Installation]( Apr 24, 2019 by Mark O'Neill Over the years, I have done countless installations of Wordpress on both my own websites and for other peoples domains. During this time, I have come to rely on an essential core of 6 free WordPress plugins which I have come to strongly feel every website should have by default. You can download them all […] [READ MORE]( [The 5 Best Browser Tools To Protect Your Online Privacy]( Apr 23, 2019 by Mark O'Neill Visiting a website these days is no longer enough. When you leave the website, they then want to know where you are going next. They want to leave tracking cookies on your browser. Thanks to analytics tools like Google Analytics, they even want to register everything from your geographical location right down to what color […] [READ MORE]( The Backroom Tech Posts [How to Use the Microsoft Anti-Malware Script Interface]( Apr 22, 2019 by Dan Franciscus Hackers are increasing the malware attacks executed in memory. One of the main execution methodologies for in memory attacks is to execute a script directly without ever writing to disk.  Traditional anti-virus works by comparing signatures to files on disk. But what do we do when the executing code never touches the disk? Or worse, […] [READ MORE]( [How to Create a Local FTP Server from Scratch]( Apr 15, 2019 by Christopher Jan Benitez Windows 10 users can create a personal cloud server that lets them transfer files without limits. In this guide, we’ll show you how to create a local FTP server that gives you more control over how you share files. Enable FTP on Windows 10 File transfer protocol or FTP is an old way of transferring […] [READ MORE]( Switching To Mac Posts [How To Backup Your iOS Device Using iTunes]( Apr 12, 2019 by Mark O'Neill As every iOS device owner knows, you can quickly and easily back it up on iCloud by using the device’s settings. But another way to back it up is to make an encrypted backup to your computer using iTunes. It’s another insurance policy in case a backup fails, then you have another one in your […] [READ MORE]( [How To Wipe & Reformat Your iOS Device]( Apr 11, 2019 by Mark O'Neill Previously, I discussed how to wipe and reinstall your MacOS operating system, which is recommended due to a gradual accumulation of gunk. But your iPhone is no different. It is still a computer, albeit a tiny one which fits in your pocket. It collects digital debris like any other computer. Which is why you should […] [READ MORE]( ABOUT ONLINE TECH TIPS Welcome to Online Tech Tips – A blog that provide readers with daily computer tutorials, technology news, software reviews, and personal computing tips. My name is Aseem Kishore and I am a full-time professional blogger. I graduated from Emory University with a degree in Computer Science and Mathematics. Copyright © 2019 Online-Tech-Tips.com, LLC, All rights reserved. You are receiving this email because you joined our newsletter on our website, www.Online-Tech-Tips.com. You'll get an email whenever we post a new article! [Update Preferences]( | [Unsubscribe](