More and more websites are using the computing power of their visitors' computers in order to generate monetary value in crypto-currency. A new advertising lever to replace the pub, but also an emerging threat.
CRYPTO-CURRENCY. What was the risk of browsing dubious websites, even hacked by malicious cybercriminals? Inappropriate ads, automatic installation of malware on your computer ... you will now have to rely on a new type of danger: the stealthy operation of your microprocessor in order to take advantage of its power to undermine crypto-currency (in other words, to generate without your knowledge the monetary value of which you will never see the color). Panorama of an emerging phenomenon, set up (intentionally!) On the site The Pirate Bay ... but also deployed to the nose and the beard of the owners of the site through an intrusion, as on the site of fact checking policy American PolitiFact.
Create monetary value from a processor
How can one use the computing power of a computer to generate crypto-currency? (Bitcoin is not the only one, other digital currencies exist, such as Monero, LiteCoin, Ethereum ...) In fact, the explanation lies in the very structure of the blockchain (Bitcoin technology), which is inherently decentralized. Each financial transaction must be validated by the different computers in the network, and anyone can propose its computing power to participate. It is then sufficient to add an ad hoc script to a web page so that its visitors participate in spite of themselves to the minting of crypto-change. An operation is all the easier because few browsers block javascript by default, this language being used on many sites that are part of the daily lives of Internet users, such as Facebook.
CALCULATION. Once a transaction is validated, each participating computer receives a certain amount of electronic money, in proportion to its participation in the calculation. Note that if the computing power bears on the graphics processor (GPU) for some crypto-currencies like the Bitcoin, for others like the Monero, it is the central processor (or CPU)! An approach that can prove much more discreet, since almost painless, translating at most by an acceleration of the speed of the fan. It should be noted that certain scientific research programs also exploit our microprocessors when they are inactive, such as the Seti @ Home program which searches space for a hypothetical radio signal of extraterrestrial origin.
source: /www.sciencesetavenir.fr