How to Tackle Cryptojacking

A cryptocurrency can be defined as ‘a tradable digital asset or digital form of money, built on blockchain technology that only exists online’. It uses cryptography to secure the transactions and hence, it is how it got its name. Some cybercriminals tend to use your computing device without your permission using malware to mine cryptocurrency. This practice of unauthorized use of someone’s computing device to mine cyrptocurrecny is known as cyrptojacking. Some hackers may steal the IT resources of the company stored in the cloud as well as source cryptocurrency and this practice is known as cloud cryptojacking.

Although cryptojacking does not result in data loss, it can cause issues such as a rise in power bills, stolen resources, and diminished productivity from the staff who are relying on the infected devices. The hackers usually do this by sending an email to the victim along with a malicious link that he/she is most likely to open. Another example would be by infecting an online site or advertisement using JavaScript code that executes the program automatically once loaded on the victim’s device.

The episodes of cryptojacking are increasing rapidly these days and are becoming one of the most favorite strategies of hackers. After all, cryptojacking is a low-risk way for online culprits to make money. Every organization must be aware of this threat and how they can prevent and tackle it. Here are some tips on how you can protect yourself from cryptojacking.

Cybersecurity education

As mentioned earlier, cryptojacking is carried out mostly by sending phishing emails to the victims. Without any doubts, an untrained employee is likely to click the malicious link in the email initiating the cryptojacking process on his/her device. In order to avoid this, always provide IT security training to your employees. Make them aware of cryptojacking, the ways to identify phishing emails, tips to reduce the chances of clicking on illegitimate links, etc. In short, make them aware of successful cyberattacks so that they’ll be even more vigilant. Otherwise, hire people who are experts in this area.

Ad-blocking and other useful tools

A victim can receive Cryptojacking threats through online ads as well. Thankfully, there are many browser extensions you can use to block some of the prevalent cryptomining scripts. Make sure you’ve installed extensions like AdBlock to help reduce cryptojacking episodes that occur this way.

 Cloud and network monitoring

One of the simplest and easiest ways to identify this threat is by consistent cloud and network monitoring. Employ an IT team that is capable of identifying even the trivial changes made in resource utilization. Plus, S3 buckets are the major attack vectors considered by cybercriminals when it comes to cryptojacking schemes. Hence, check for illegal access to S3 buckets as well. Additionally, review net traffic and publish alerts in case of any suspicious activities. You can use network monitoring tools for this purpose.

Strong passwords

Hackers can pry on your IT resources stored in the cloud as well to mine cryptocurrency. To tackle this issue, secure your cloud account using a strong password or multi-factor authentication. Hackers usually check the internet for misaligned cloud services, especially the one without a password. Furthermore, make sure to use at least 6 characters in your password and try to include alphanumeric combination, punctuations, symbols, etc., in your password to make it even stronger.

Adopt data security solutions

Some people have a misconception that cryptojacking can affect only laptops and desktops. Note that it can affect your mobile phones and tablets as well. This tends to be a major reason for concern with more and more organizations embracing the concept of BYOD or Bring Your Own Device. In this case, make sure to extend security to mobile endpoints as well. For this, you can rely on agentless cloud security solutions. This way, you’ll be able to oversee data access and malware threats without the need of installing software on your personal device.