Crypto mining is no longer worthwhile for private individuals as the costs exceed the profits. But it’s still worth it for criminals because they simply use your resources! A disguised crypto miner mines the currency in the background, you only hear about it when you receive your electricity bill and the hackers cash in. COMPUTER BILD explains what exactly is behind it and how you can protect yourself.
Cryptocurrencies offer a purely virtual currency, with exchange rates, price fluctuations and coin trading. Similar to stock trading, large profits and losses are possible. So-called wallets or wallets are used to own and trade cryptocurrencies Crypto apps necessary. If you buy and sell at the right time, you can potentially make big profits with Bitcoins & Co.
Mining: Earn money with cryptocurrencies
The special thing about cryptocurrencies is the blockchains. Put simply, this is a chain of data sets that needs to be extended so that more coins are created. However, extending the digital strand is very complicated and requires a lot of computing power. That’s why the currency providers have made the process public: Anyone can take part – and whoever extends the chain gets a bonus. This search for new data blocks is called mining. COMPUTER BILD explains in one how this works and what profits you can expect Crypto mining guide.
Crypto miners: Generate coins at someone else’s expense
Over time, the profits that can be made from mining decrease. One of the reasons for this is that lengthening the chain becomes more difficult with each new chain link. In addition, “halvings” take place regularly to counteract inflation. But they also ensure that the computing effort is doubled. In many cases it is therefore no longer profitable for private individuals to mine themselves: electricity and hardware simply cost too much.
Criminals have therefore come up with a trick: they mine with malware. These crypto miners often disguise themselves as games or simple programs and sometimes even offer corresponding functions. In the background, the crypto miner uses all of its computing power to mine cryptocurrency – of course for the benefit of the criminals. Anyone who has such a crypto miner on their PC is unintentionally making its computing power available to others, but is left with the electricity bill and hardware wear and tear.
How to protect yourself from crypto miners
Crypto miners are malware. Good antivirus programs (see above) detect and remove these like any other virus – or at best prevent the miner from getting onto the PC at all. Crypto miners get onto the hard drive via email attachments, infected websites or downloads. A protection program checks all of these avenues and only lets through what is not malware.
Another way for illegal mining is through websites that mine in the background using the computing power of visitors. A protection program also detects this, prevents it and warns you. You should also react if the PC behaves strangely: Does it start up on its own? Is the fan running at full speed even though no one is working on the computer? Does it react very slowly to the start of programs? These are all signs that there is a crypto miner at work in the background. In such a case, it is best to scan the PC with one Emergency DVD.
