How to protect your smartphone from cryptomining

Cryptocurrency mining is becoming a threat. As per research, there are millions of Android users who are at risk as their devices can be hijacked without their knowledge for cryptocurrency mining. This process involves hackers gaining control of your phone’s processing capabilities in order to secretly mine virtual currency termed Monero through Trojanized apps and forced redirects.

The security researchers at Malwarebytes have found a new malware that will redirect users of Android phones to a website that will hijack the processor of their device to mine Monero. The users of the affected phones will be asked to enter the w3FaSO5R CAPTCHA code to prove that they are not robots. Until the CAPTCHA code is entered and the Continue button is hit, the device will mine Monera at full speed and max out the processor of the device.

As per the researchers, the campaign was observed last month and appears to have started before November last year. Researchers also believe that some infected apps with ad modules are loading similar chains resulting in the cryptomining page.

Many domains using this CAPTCHA code with various Coinhive site keys were discovered last year and more are being added. The combined traffic to these domains is estimated to be about 800,000 visits a day with four minutes as the average time spent on the mining page. In this time, the hackers are estimated to net a few thousand dollars every month.

With the high risk of cryptomining, it is important to identify if your phone is hijacked or not. You can keep an eye on the red flags and take precautions to cut down the misuse by hackers.

Check for issues

Check if your smartphone is slow and if there is an unusual battery drain or overheating while accessing some apps or websites. This can be an indication that hackers are using your phone to mine coins.

Run security tools

Security researchers at Malwarebytes advise users to run the same security tools used on PCs on their phones too. It is a good practice to run anti-virus software to prevent the malicious activities.

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Install verified apps

Make sure you install verified apps from the Play Store. If you use unverified sources, then your phone is prone to get infected resulting in long-term damage.

Anti-bitcoin mining

There are web browsers like Opera that offer anti-bitcoin mining feature on mobile. This will make sure you do not visit the malicious websites.