Roy Hadley Pens Cybersecurity-Focused Article on Cryptomining and Cryptojacking

In a whitepaper published in SC Magazine on October 3, Roy Hadley discusses cryptomining and cryptojacking. With cryptojacking, like other cyber threats, the attacker wants to go unnoticed and cause damage without the victim realizing there is any unusual activity.

They do not want to “melt your systems down or use too much, [but rather] keep it at a level where it is effective but not noticeable,” says Roy. “You’re seeing some viruses that can control the CPU usage… if they can keep it at a place where you don’t notice it, but it’s effective to them, it can go on for years.”

Cryptojacking can run down the battery on mobile devices in just two to three hours and can raise the device’s temperature more than 40 degrees higher than the recommended maximum temperature. This has the potential to permanently damage the hardware.

As cryptojacking is still somewhat new, discovering it must be considered and handled as a security attack. An essential part of finding and stopping any cyber breach is how the company and its employees internalize security. “Have a culture of security,” says Roy. “Don’t just be looking for specific things. Be like a doctor looking at a patient’s big picture and monitor your systems for unusual activities at the processor level; watch for unusual data inflow and outflow.”

Subscribers can view the full article here.