Hackers Are Cryptojacking Smartphones To Mine For Monero And Bitcoin Via Games & Apps, According To ESET And Kaspersky Lab

Security experts discovered that hackers are mining for crypto via smartphones. Yesterday, The Daily Mail reported that growing problem and highlighted the fact that there’s a high need to protect users’ smartphones.

Security researchers from the IT company ESET noted that the hackers are exploring the processors in smartphones by embedding a malicious crypto mining program inside a gaming application.

Cryptojacking on smartphones is rising

Although mining for cryptos such as Monero, and Bitcoin requires a substantial investment and hardware an electricity, cryptojacking is a cheaper option.

Gerome Billois, an IT expert from Wavestone, stated that in order to hijack an IoT device you have to entrap an Internet server and install a malware designed to mine cryptos from the victim’s PC or smartphone.

The processing power of smartphones is definitely lower compared to the one of a PC, but there still seems to be an increasing number of smartphones with high potential to mine crypto.

Hackers are luring the victims to install apps

Hackers are luring the victims by enticing them to download a really popular catchy smartphone app which usually takes the form of a game.

The malicious cryptomining code is hidden in the app.

“Recently, we have discovered that a version of the popular game Bug Smasher, installed from Google Play between one and five million times, has been secretly mining the cryptocurrency Monero on users’ devices,” said researchers from the IT Security company ESET.

Smartphone cryptojacking is a considerable problem and security researchers at Kaspersky Lab which is a famous supplier of anti-virus software and computer security mentioned that there had been an increasing number of apps that hide crypto mining programs.

ESET noted that on some Android devices this could even cause the battery to bloat which would trigger physical damage to the user.

Cryptojacking usually affects smartphones that run the Google Android OS. Apple is more stringent on apps that can be downloaded and installed on iPhones.

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