Report: Three of Top Four Malware Threats Are In-Browser Cryptocurrency Miners

itman · Mar 13, 2018

Three in-browser cryptocurrency mining scripts ranked first, second, and fourth in Check Point's most active malware top ten, outranking classic high-output malware distribution infrastructures such as spam botnets, malvertising, and exploit kit operations.

The three are Coinhive (ranked #1), Crypto-Loot (ranked #2), and JSEcoin (ranked #4). These three are online services that offer JavaScript libraries that website owners can embed on their sites and generate profit by using their visitors' CPU resources to mine the Monero cryptocurrency.

While all three are legitimate services, the JavaScript libraries provided by these three services have been abused by malware authors.
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https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/ne...threats-are-in-browser-cryptocurrency-miners/

wshrugged · Mar 13, 2018

There's a currency miner in the Mac App Store, and Apple seems OK with it.
Popular Calendar 2 App mines Monero by default, but it least it discloses it.

Resource-draining currency miners are a regular part of the Google Play market, as scammers pump out apps that covertly harness millions of devices, in some cases with malware so aggressive it can physically damage phones. A popular title in the Mac App Store recently embraced coin mining openly, and so far Apple gatekeepers haven't blocked it.

The app is Calendar 2, a scheduling app that aims to include more features than the Calendar app that Apple bundles with macOS. In recent days, Calendar 2 developer Qbix endowed it with code that mines the digital coin known as Monero. The xmr-stack miner isn't supposed to run unless users specifically approve it in a dialog that says the mining will be in exchange for turning on a set of premium features. If users approve the arrangement, the miner will then run. Users can bypass this default action by selecting an option to keep the premium features turned off or to pay a fee to turn on the premium features.[...]
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https://arstechnica.com/information...the-mac-app-store-and-apple-seems-ok-with-it/

EDIT TO ADD from same link (didn't see this when I read it earlier):

[...]Update: In an e-mail sent about 90 minutes after this post went live, Magarshak said he has decided to remove the miner from future versions of Calandar 2. He explained:[...]
Apple representatives have yet to return requests for comment.
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Report: Three of Top Four Malware Threats Are In-Browser Cryptocurrency Miners

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Report: Three of Top Four Malware Threats Are In-Browser Cryptocurrency Miners

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