Cryptocurrency mining is popular these days and every other guy wants to get in on it. While the genuine miners have invested millions in this business all over the world, some hijackers like to choose the other route.
Android Phones Being Hijacked
Millions of Android smartphones across the world may have been hacked by crypto-jackers, according to Malwarebytes.
Malwarebytes states that the illegal miners enter your device via a malicious ad redirect scam, and make the users download infected apps that redirects them to a website.
As soon as you are redirected to the link, your device becomes a part of the group mining cryptocurrency for the hackers.
They can use your device as long as you enter a valid CAPTCHA code. This image clearly shows the processor usage graph of a device being used for cryptocurrency mining.
The Stats
According to the figures disclosed by Malwarebytes, an average user spends 4 minutes on the malicious site and there were over 30 million visits per month. This counts up to a hell of a lot of profit for the crypto jackers.
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Interestingly, a lot of smartphone users are unaware of the hazards of using a less secure device. A recent research stated that over 28% of smartphone owners don’t even have a screen lock or other security feature to prevent access to their phones.
This leads us to believe that hackers will be having a good time hijacking the Android smartphones for their own good.
What To Do?
There are certainly some measures that can be taken to avoid this, by setting up web filters and security software. It has been noted that Android users often try to side load APKs of their choice from 3rd party platforms other than the Google Play Store, which isn’t safe at all, unless it’s from a reputed store.
Using your Android device in a secure environment can be a good practice to avoid any mishaps in the future.
Via AndroidAuthority
