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MineBlock: AdBlock Plus adds protection from hidden in-browser mining

26 September 2017 21:00, UTC

AdBlock Plus has prepared a new solution that will ensure protection from in-browser mining scripts. It can be added to the AdBlock plugin in Chrome, Edge, Firefox and Safari browsers. The filter turns off malicious scripts that allow third-party individuals to control the website visitors’ computing resources and remotely mine cryptocurrency. This product was developed in response to the recent news about the latest hidden mining technology – in-browser scripts that work only when a certain website page is opened.

The Pirate Bay users (in case you didn’t know, TPB is one of the biggest torrent trackers) have recently detected this threat that was somehow injected on the website pages and warned each other – scripts like these will use additional power resources, load a computer with computations and, more importantly, will give nothing in return as all funds are to go to the malefactors’ accounts. Tracing the authors is a difficult option, as the script found mines Monero and there is no reason to believe other scripts will mine more transparent Bitcoin.

If you already have AdBlock Plus installed, get to the filters and add ||coin-hive.com/lib/coinhive.min.js (Chrome) or coin-hive.com/lib/coinhive.min.js (Firefox). This will at least provide some protection before hackers invent something even more sophisticated.