Of late, there has been a massive surge of cases of Cryptojacking, where a website has code on their websites which will utilize your CPUs processing power to mine cryptocurrencies, which at the moment, Monero seems to be the choice for most cryptojackers.
Most notably, ThePirateBay was found to be running cryptojacking scripts on their infamous torrent site, have since came out and admitted that they are doing so:
And it seems this led alot of people upset, but what did you expect from ThePirateBay, really?
That they should run a site illegally with the constant need to hide away from law enforcement, a site that cannot monetize itself because of its illegal stature, to provide you the service of easily accessing data that you should be paying for and do it all for fun?
If you really want to be upset, maybe look at an instance of cryptojacking from an entity you wouldn't expect. CBS.
Now that was one no one could have seen coming. I'd like to to give CBS the benefit of the doubt that this was the workings of a web developer of low-position employee in general, who made that rash decision and management for the most part had nothing to do with it, and that if they knew they would have stopped it immediately. Nonetheless, it just goes to show that it can happen anywhere.
CryptoJacking as a New Form of Website Monetization and is Here To Stay
Like it or not, Cryptojacking is here to stay. This Pandora's box is not going anywhere. Though it easy to interpret it as a negative thing, I believe it is a double-edged sword, and, not just any double-edged sword.
One that will revolutionize montization completely in only a short amount of time.
I can already foresee iterations Cryptojacking coming into play in a few scenarios, with ThePirateBay being just the beginning and an obvious leader at that.
What about:
Video Games who utilize an additional processing power while you are in game, for an otherwise completely Free-To-Play situation.
Highly innovative softwares which use additional processing power while you are utilizing their other Free-To-Use tools.
Media websites and platforms utilizing additional processing power while you are consuming their free content, and are better able to pay content creators.
These are just 3 I can think of in the span of 10 minutes, but give it some time and there will be innovations to no end on the possibilities of the utilization of processing power as a means of monetization.
I for one, think this is a great opportunity, and a open door for further innovation and growth of technological possibilities.
The Key Lies in Permission and Transparency
This practice of Cryptojacking turns from wonderful technological possibilities and turns into scummy when it is done without permission and tranparency about how much processing power is being utilized. Then it is simply and clearly stealing.
We can logically expect the continual surge of website running Cryptojacking scripts of every variation imagineable, for malware viruses lurking at every corner to enter your system and secretly utilize your computer's processing power.
As a matter of fact, I can almost guarantee, that someone who will read this article is having that happen as they read this article.
Much of this kind of activity will be conducted regardless of whether we like it or not. Such is the nature of the double-edged sword.
Thankfully, solutions are always abound for caring enough to find them.
The prolific guys at Adblock have already announce that AdblockPlus can help with that :
AdblockPlus : Kicking Out CryptoHive
Simply install AdblockPlus, and follow the instructions to ensure that your browser will not the most prevalent CryptoJacking script right now, CryptoHive.
The issue being, that as of right now, it will only sto CryptoHive, it won't be long before that list explodes, but for now, it will do just fine.
Oh What a Wonderful Time To Be Alive!
As I write this article, it really is so surreal, how technology is changing and growing, ebbing and flowing every single day, the things written in this article makes 0 sense just a mere couple year prior.
I love this digital age so much, it really brings the 'droll' out of regular day to day life and turns it into some crazy sci-fi reality.
Keep safe from processing-power thieves and as always,
God Speed Brethren.
