Loads of websites Mining my CPU the past month!

Jason_Sturgess · 20 Dec 2017 at 15:03

I have noticed a lot of websites are mining the ** Fully Star out all swearing ** out my CPU the past month witch causes my Computer to lock up when the CPU hits 100% Load! I have found that by shutting down the browser it goes away but not always , its being reported that some sites are still running in the background when you shut down the webpage reported on the site below.

https://arstechnica.com/information...-by-cryptomining-comes-to-a-browser-near-you/

It looks like this is going to be a massive problem, I've already experienced it a few times myself.

Supernova · 20 Dec 2017 at 15:06

Reduce your porn intake?

humbug · 20 Dec 2017 at 16:24

Find a good virus / malware scanner..... it looks like your computer is infected with something.

CAT-THE-FIFTH · 20 Dec 2017 at 18:05

Its happened even on well known websites.

tres_kun · 21 Dec 2017 at 06:11

It hapend to me only once
And the sound gave it away
The PC was taking off

Glanza · 21 Dec 2017 at 08:42

Had a few notifications from scriptblock at home and Avast web at work when using streaming sites I've used for years. Not had the issue where it maxes the cpu out yet.

opethdisciple · 21 Dec 2017 at 10:25

I've seen this as well but the windows Antivirus picked it up and quarantined it.

matthab · 21 Dec 2017 at 11:45

No script on the browser stops this, also using DNS like OpenDNS means it filters known sites.

opethdisciple · 21 Dec 2017 at 12:35

matthab said:
No script on the browser stops this, also using DNS like OpenDNS means it filters known sites.

That's interesting. Do you have a source? Also does OpenDNS use DNSSec like Google DNS does?

d_brennen · 21 Dec 2017 at 12:37

Semiaccurate forums had a mining bot a while ago. Seems those running old forum software are the main culprits

Nutella33 · 21 Dec 2017 at 18:30

d_brennen said:
Semiaccurate forums had a mining bot a while ago. Seems those running old forum software are the main culprits

*looks around nervously*

Zefan · 21 Dec 2017 at 18:34

Nutella33 said:
*looks around nervously*

No old software here! Well, at least not as old as it was :eek:

I'm not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, it feels particularly underhand and dodgy, but is that just because it's not specifically stated and not many people understand how it works? It has the potential to replace advertising which wouldn't be a bad thing. I realise that people need to make a living from the content they create on their sites, but it's got to a point on some pages where it completely ruins the experience.

Nutella33 · 21 Dec 2017 at 18:57

Zefan said:
No old software here! Well, at least not as old as it was

No i know, just teasing.

Zefan said:
but it's got to a point on some pages where it completely ruins the experience.

Depends on the intensity of the mining i guess. But I dont think the websites affected are the benefactors of it.

Interesting idea though, using it as a advertisement replacement.

d_brennen · 21 Dec 2017 at 19:23

Nutella33 said:
Depends on the intensity of the mining i guess. But I dont think the websites affected are the benefactors of it.

S/A definitely weren't behind their mining problem, apparently the java code was injected surreptitiously somehow

Orcvader · 21 Dec 2017 at 19:33

Add this list to your blocker: https://github.com/hoshsadiq/adblock-nocoin-list

It's fustrating though that sites are now using these to make revenue. It can be "fine" on a PC with good cooling, but devices like laptops and mobile devices which is far more commonly used will have reduced battery life and the extra heat could damage something.

humbug · 21 Dec 2017 at 20:10

Zefan said:
No old software here! Well, at least not as old as it was

I'm not sure how I feel about this. On the one hand, it feels particularly underhand and dodgy, but is that just because it's not specifically stated and not many people understand how it works? It has the potential to replace advertising which wouldn't be a bad thing. I realise that people need to make a living from the content they create on their sites, but it's got to a point on some pages where it completely ruins the experience.

I have issues with this kind of aggressive ways to make money from their readers, mining scrips make your system unresponsive and hot and your power bills will go up, they can even damage your machine.

The sort of people who use these methods to pay themselves for their content are no different to hackers injecting scripts into your computer to use your hardware for mining, this is exactly what they are doing, coin mining is extremely stressful on that hardware and they have no right to abuse your hardware for their gains.

Doobedoo · 21 Dec 2017 at 21:54

humbug said:
I have issues with this kind of aggressive ways to make money from their readers, mining scrips make your system unresponsive and hot and your power bills will go up, they can even damage your machine.

The sort of people who use these methods to pay themselves for their content are no different to hackers injecting scripts into your computer to use your hardware for mining, this is exactly what they are doing, coin mining is extremely stressful on that hardware and they have no right to abuse your hardware for their gains.

+1 You need to ask my permission if you want to use my equipment to make money, end of. Obviously I will never give any one permission unless they want to pay me

.

And no hiding anything in the small print that no normal person will ever read, you need to ask me yes or no just like they do with the cookies.

Zefan · 21 Dec 2017 at 21:59

Doobedoo said:
+1 You need to ask my permission if you want to use my equipment to make money, end of. Obviously I will never give any one permission unless they want to pay me .

Well, really, every time you watch an advert on a Web page your equipment is being used to render that advert, in order to make money. I understand that it's different, but not fundamentally. All it would take would be a little "cookies style" popup and clever code to only use a portion of resources and I wouldn't be surprised if the majority people would accept it.

Rroff · 21 Dec 2017 at 22:12

Zefan said:
Well, really, every time you watch an advert on a Web page your equipment is being used to render that advert, in order to make money. I understand that it's different, but not fundamentally. All it would take would be a little "cookies style" popup and clever code to only use a portion of resources and I wouldn't be surprised if the majority people would accept it.

Most people expect a web-page to only consume any considerable amount of resources when loading and not to interfere with anything else they have going on while open i.e. say encoding a video while browsing plus as pointed out above there are quite big considerations for devices like tablets.

Then again so many sites seem to think it OK to have auto-playing video when the main content of the page isn't about that - so I don't really expect any proper consideration for the end user and it makes it harder and harder to argue against the use of ad blockers, etc.

Doobedoo · 21 Dec 2017 at 22:25

Zefan said:
Well, really, every time you watch an advert on a Web page your equipment is being used to render that advert, in order to make money. I understand that it's different, but not fundamentally. All it would take would be a little "cookies style" popup and clever code to only use a portion of resources and I wouldn't be surprised if the majority people would accept it.

Quite a big difference from running an ad that will normally be blocked anyway to running background processes to use my computer to mine without my permission. If I wanted to use my computer to mine I would do it for my own benefit not for others, I don't which quite obviously means that I don't want to use my pc to mine.