- 1 billion devices believed to be slowed down by miners
- Slowing down a device is not the worst thing that could happen
- "Cryptojacked" device can have 100% of its resources used for mining
- Mining cause overheating, destroying your device
According to cyber firm McAfee, since miners need an increasing amount of computer power to earn Bitcoin, some have started compromising public Wi-Fi networks so they can access devices to mine for Bitcoin.
A recent target was a Wi-Fi hotspot in a cafe in Buenos Aires which was infected with malware allowing Bitcoin hackers access to PCs being used by customers.
It's also thought that millions of websites may have been compromised with unsuspecting users seeing their PCs mining for Bitcoin without ever knowing.
Speaking about the issue in a recent blog, Gary Davis, McAfee’s Chief Consumer Security Evangelist said: "This has become such a widespread problem, that over 1 billion devices are believed to be slowed down by web-based mining.
"And slowing your device down is not even the worst thing that could happen.
"A device that is “cryptojacked” could have 100 percent of its resources used for mining, causing the device to overheat, essentially destroying it."
HERE'S HOW TO AVOID YOUR PC BEING USED TO MINE
- Avoid public Wi-Fi networks
- Use VPN
- Secure Your Devices