idw – Informationsdienst Wissenschaft
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
Nachrichten, Termine, Experten
It is a phenomenon known to almost all of us: you browse the web and suddenly your computer slows down and runs loudly. This could be due to so-called crypto mining, meaning the access to computer power to generate cryptocurrencies without the knowledge of the user. In response, the St. Pölten UAS has developed the open source software “CoinEater” which blocks unwanted access and is available as an add-on to Firefox and Chrome.
Cryptojacking describes the creation of cryptocurrencies by visitors of a website without their approval. Since mining is a very computing-intensive process, this can lead to reduced battery life on mobile devices. Due to this, the St. Pölten UAS has developed the free software “CoinEater” which recognises online crypto mining and blocks its execution.
“Usually high-performance hardware is used to generate cryptocurrencies. Cryptojacking distributes mining between many, less powerful devices and poses a new form of threat on the Internet”, explains Sebastian Schrittwieser, Head of the Institute for IT Security Research at the St. Pölten UAS, who helped develop the software.
This means that the attackers do not generate cryptocurrencies on their own computers and with their own electricity but on somebody else’s. The computer runs at full speed, the battery drains quickly and the profit goes to the attackers.
Ongoing Search for New Threats
A scanner developed at the Institute for IT Security Research automatically searches the Internet for cryptojacking at regular intervals. The results are then integrated into the CoinEater software. To do this, researchers went through over one million of the most popular websites and uncovered that more than 3,000 sites digging for cryptocurrencies without their users’ knowledge. The researchers’ programme also provides a technical analysis of the methods used by these websites.
“The use of such techniques is legitimate if website users agree to them, for instance, in order to hide advertisements”, says Schrittwieser. Cryptojacking, on the other hand, is a misuse of the users’ devices.
“Even though Coinhive, the largest provider of online mining software today, is going to discontinue its services soon, the problem will not be completely eradicated and mining could become more worthwhile once again later on”, explains Schrittwieser. The developed scanner can also detect other providers of crypto mining.
Protection against Pop Ups
The scanner also recognises another new phenomenon on the Internet: the pop-up scam. When visiting websites, users are confronted with pop-up windows containing ads or short messages which link them to fee-based offers or malware and which have to be tediously clicked away.
The software CoinEater was developed by researchers of the St. Pölten UAS in the course of the research project PriSAd (Privacy and Security in Online Advertisement) and funded by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG). IT security company Nimbusec was a partner of the project.
The software is updated constantly. It scans about 100,000 pages every day and runs a software update for the one million pages once every ten days.
###
Download of the add-on for protection from crypto mining
https://www.coineater.io
###
Research Project PriSAd
The research project PriSAd (Privacy and Security in Online Advertisement) was funded by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG). IT security company Nimbusec was a partner of the project.
https://research.fhstp.ac.at/projekte/privacy-and-security-in-online-advertiseme...
###
About the St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences
https://www.fhstp.ac.at/en
###
Contact for further information and queries:
Mag. Mark Hammer
T: +43/2742/313 228 269
M: +43/676/847 228 269
E: mark.hammer@fhstp.ac.at
I: https://www.fhstp.ac.at/de/presse
Press releases and photos are available for download at https://www.fhstp.ac.at/de/presse.
General press photos are available for download at https://www.fhstp.ac.at/de/presse/pressefotos-logos.
Facebook and Twitter: www.facebook.com/fhstp, https://twitter.com/FH_StPoelten.
Screenshot Coineater
St. Pölten UAS
None
Sebastian Schrittwieser
St. Pölten UAS / Foto Kraus
None
Merkmale dieser Pressemitteilung:
Journalisten, Wissenschaftler
Informationstechnik, Medien- und Kommunikationswissenschaften, Wirtschaft
überregional
Forschungs- / Wissenstransfer, Forschungsergebnisse
Englisch
Screenshot Coineater
St. Pölten UAS
None
Sebastian Schrittwieser
St. Pölten UAS / Foto Kraus
None
Sie können Suchbegriffe mit und, oder und / oder nicht verknüpfen, z. B. Philo nicht logie.
Verknüpfungen können Sie mit Klammern voneinander trennen, z. B. (Philo nicht logie) oder (Psycho und logie).
Zusammenhängende Worte werden als Wortgruppe gesucht, wenn Sie sie in Anführungsstriche setzen, z. B. „Bundesrepublik Deutschland“.
Die Erweiterte Suche können Sie auch nutzen, ohne Suchbegriffe einzugeben. Sie orientiert sich dann an den Kriterien, die Sie ausgewählt haben (z. B. nach dem Land oder dem Sachgebiet).
Haben Sie in einer Kategorie kein Kriterium ausgewählt, wird die gesamte Kategorie durchsucht (z.B. alle Sachgebiete oder alle Länder).
