Interesting People mailing list archives
Now even YouTube serves ads with CPU-draining cryptocurrency miners
From: "Dave Farber" <dave () farber net>
Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2018 20:41:02 +0000
---------- Forwarded message --------- From: Dewayne Hendricks <dewayne () warpspeed com> Date: Wed, Jan 31, 2018 at 3:19 PM Subject: [Dewayne-Net] Now even YouTube serves ads with CPU-draining cryptocurrency miners To: Multiple recipients of Dewayne-Net <dewayne-net () warpspeed com> [Note: This item comes from friend Steve Goldstein. DLH] Now even YouTube serves ads with CPU-draining cryptocurrency miners Ad campaign lets attackers profit while unwitting users watch videos. By Dan Goodin Jan 26 2018 < https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2018/01/now-even-youtube-serves-ads-with-cpu-draining-cryptocurrency-miners/
YouTube was recently caught displaying ads that covertly leach off visitors' CPUs and electricity to generate digital currency on behalf of anonymous attackers, it was widely reported. Word of the abusive ads started no later than Tuesday, as people took to social media sites to complain their antivirus programs were detecting cryptocurrency mining code when they visited YouTube. The warnings came even when people changed the browser they were using, and the warnings seemed to be limited to times when users were on YouTube. Great now my browser everytime I watch youtube... my anti virus always blocking coinhive because malware . Idk much about it but this is getting annoying and I need a solution please T n T — Arung (@ArungLaksmana) January 23, 2018 Hey @avast_antivirus seems that you are blocking crypto miners (#coinhive) in @YouTube #ads Thank you :)https://t.co/p2JjwnQyxz — Diego Betto (@diegobetto) January 25, 2018 Por lo visto @YouTube es muy gracioso y no le bastaba con bajarnos la audiencia, ahora van y nos meten el JavaScript de Coinhive para utilizar nuestros dispositivos para minar Monero! De verdad, @Google! Que leeches estáis haciendo con YouTube?? pic.twitter.com/NzMUMlArJs — ᛗ🦊ᛟErvoᛟ🦊ᛗ (@Mystic_Ervo) January 24, 2018 On Friday, researchers with antivirus provider Trend Micro said the ads helped drive a more than three-fold spike in Web miner detections. They said the attackers behind the ads were abusing Google's DoubleClick ad platform to display them to YouTube visitors in select countries, including Japan, France, Taiwan, Italy, and Spain. The ads contain JavaScript that mines the digital coin known as Monero. In nine out of 10 cases, the ads will use publicly available JavaScript provided by Coinhive, a cryptocurrency-mining service that's controversial because it allows subscribers to profit by surreptitiously using other people's computers. The remaining 10 percent of the time, the YouTube ads use private mining JavaScript that saves the attackers the 30 percent cut Coinhive takes. Both scripts are programmed to consume 80 percent of a visitor's CPU, leaving just barely enough resources for it to function. "YouTube was likely targeted because users are typically on the site for an extended period of time," independent security researcher Troy Mursch told Ars. "This is a prime target for cryptojacking malware, because the longer the users are mining for cryptocurrency the more money is made." Mursch said a campaign from Septemberthat used the Showtime website to deliver cryptocurrency-mining ads is another example of attackers targeting a video site. To add insult to injury, the malicious JavaScript in at least some cases was accompanied by graphics that displayed ads for fake AV programs, which scam people out of money and often install malware when they are run. [snip] Dewayne-Net RSS Feed: http://dewaynenet.wordpress.com/feed/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/wa8dzp ------------------------------------------- Archives: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/247/=now RSS Feed: https://www.listbox.com/member/archive/rss/247/18849915-ae8fa580 Modify Your Subscription: https://www.listbox.com/member/?member_id=18849915&id_secret=18849915-aa268125 Unsubscribe Now: https://www.listbox.com/unsubscribe/?member_id=18849915&id_secret=18849915-32545cb4&post_id=20180131154119:14F435AA-06C7-11E8-8BED-D14E918F61A2 Powered by Listbox: http://www.listbox.com
Current thread:
- Now even YouTube serves ads with CPU-draining cryptocurrency miners Dave Farber (Feb 01)