Safety is a major issue for many computer users because are we really sure we are safe whenever we browse the World Wide Web. Nobody can really tell and we have heard plenty of stories of security breaches, a need for server data recovery and data stolen from millions of users the world over. You are virtually helpless when you are on the web even if you put some safety features on your device or even use passwords for the various accounts you use. The use of social media is a fine example where many consumers willingly share personal information on a regular basis without really knowing how their data is being utilized by many third parties who likewise have access to their files.
However, as technology advances, we likewise face more threats both on and off the web. Not only ordinary people are threatened but even big servers that support thousands, if not millions, of people on a daily basis, are at risk. One of the major threat identified as of late has to do with cryptocurrency mining. A lot of these miners resort to various tricks and scams to steal computing power from unknowing victims through malwares or server hacking of sort in order to keep their operation going 24/7. There are also other forms of hacking that can deeply inconvenience businesses and their users for some time like the case identified below.
SAN DIEGO — A Utah man pleaded guilty Tuesday in federal court in San Diego to carrying out a global spree of malicious computer hacks that cost his victims at least $95,000 in cumulative damages.
Austin Thompson, 23, admitted that he committed the series of denial- of-service hacking attacks in 2013 and 2014, mostly going after online gaming companies and servers, including then-San Diego-based Sony Online Entertainment.
Cybercriminals are becoming more ingenious in doing their crimes on the web and it is not always for a profit. Some just derive pleasure in disrupting the normal lives of people knowing that many people these days take their businesses online. Any website that can no longer be accessed because of technical failure can mean lost profits or dissatisfied customers that can affect the success of your business in the future. It is especially burdensome if servers are targeted because it can affect a larger scale of operation and can take hours and days for some to fix. The damage is often irreversible, which is why these criminals must be stopped because they usually target big businesses and even public organizations that can inconvenience many people at a time.
There’s a gold rush raging through the information superhighway, complete with its own new age brand of outlaw posses and sheriffs.
It lacks some of the flair of the wild west and the currency isn’t something you can bite to test whether it’s real gold, but there’s bigger money in it.
Someone might even be mining these new cryptocurrencies using your computer as you read this story and you wouldn’t even know it.
That’s what happened to St. Francis Xavier University.
“The malicious software attempted to utilize St F.X.’s collective computing power in order to create or discover bitcoin for monetary gain,” says a notice to staff and students sent out Sunday by the university.
(Via: https://www.thechronicleherald.ca/news/local/st-fx-computers-hacked-by-bitcoin-miners-256810/)
We are not new to hearing cryptocurrency miners doing all sorts of cybercrimes to steal computing power from other users. Servers are also targeted because it is more powerful than a computer alone and can support their nonstop mining for longer especially when still undetected. We already know that there is big money with cryptocurrency although not all of us understand how it works. And as such, criminals will go to great lengths to keep the money flowing from this modern-day goldmine. It is why malwares are so common these days because that’s how they can steal computing power from others while staying under the radar. Eventually, it will be discovered but they have already benefitted from you and it also raises concerns about your data privacy knowing these intruders have already accessed your network you can never really tell whether they have also stolen some of your most private data.
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