Opera’s New Browser Protects Users Against ‘Cryptojacking’ Attacks

Rate this post

One of the simplest ways of mining cryptocurrencies is using CPU or GPU power. There are different mining pools that offer this possibility for some users. But this power was also used and exploited by some hackers through different webpages. When a user was surfing a specific infected website, its CPU power was used illegally to mine cryptocurrencies. At CoinStaker, we have reported how this was affecting different users all over the world.

That’s why Opera has launched on January the 4^th, a new version of its desktop web browser. This release includes some exclusive features that make sure that nobody is draining your CPU power to mine cryptocurrencies. These functions were available in Google Chrome and Firefox as extensions, while in Opera it activates with the ad block.

Opera Protects Agains CPU Mining from Different Webpages

Some webpages were infected by hackers with a special software that drains visitor’s CPU in order to mine cryptocurrencies. Hackers were able to mine Monero (that can be mined with CPU) without the visitor’s permission and other virtual currencies.

Krystian Kolondra, head of Desktop Browser at Opera commented:

“We are fans of cryptocurrencies but we simply don’t accept that websites are using people’s computers to mine coins without their knowledge of consent. With the new Opera 50, we want to kick off 2018 by providing people a simple way to regain control of their computers.”

CoinHive Injections

CoinHive is a software that can be used in any website in order to mine Monero and other cryptocurrencies. With a JavaScript miner, users visiting a website can mine with the excess of CPU power. That would allow the webpage not to rely anymore in ad revenue to maintain the site.

This software was created for website owners in order to let them run the website without the necessity of using ads. The software asks permission to the user and it starts to mine if the user accepts it.

But there was a problem, some hackers used the software to mine cryptocurrencies from other websites. Without the webpage owner permission, these hackers installed CoinHive in different websites and used the CPU power of thousand users. It was difficult to be detected for the website owner and for the users, that’s why hackers could obtain important gains from it.

More than 500 WordPress sites were infected and some websites were using aggressive ad campaigns and CoinHive injections. That’s not the main idea behind the software created by CoinHive team. Webmasters should always keep their site secure and monitored, reducing the possibility of unauthorized cods or CoinHive injections.

With Opera, this will not be a problem anymore. Just by activating the ad block, cryptocurrency mining software will not be able to run using Opera. That solves an important problem of different websites and users but could be harmful for CoinHive team and its intention to reduce ads.