Liquior bottle
27 comments
Bitcoin trade value chart
Despite an increase in popularity over recent months amongst botnet operators, malware-powered Bitcoin mining brings little to no financial return, say experts. Security giant McAfee contends in its quarterly threat report PDF that commercial botnet controllers and malware packages have been adding cryptocurrency mining options to their list of services offered. The mining tools - offered alongside botnet task options such as spam runs or distributed denial of service DDoS attacks - put infected machines to use mining Bitcoin.
Unfortunately for the cybercrooks, however, it seems that a botnet-turned-mining rig doesn't actually make much money in real life. McAfee found that the increasing difficulty of Bitcoin hashes, combined with the attrition rate from malware detections on infected machines, would make turning a profit from botnet mining nearly impossible.
According to researcher estimates, a botnet controller attempting to mine Bitcoin with a 10, system network would initially see a net loss in operations and with increasing difficulty cycles productivity would plateau off without turning much of a profit. That rate becomes even lower when mobile devices are added to the equation. Researchers note that with less powerful processors and limited battery life, mobile devices are ill-equipped to function as dedicated cryptocurrency mining tools, especially when this is done via covert malware infections.
Researchers conclude, therefore, that botnet kingpins are better off avoiding the Bitcoin mining game and sticking with other techniques.
That would come as little relief, however, to owners of infected machines who will see their system performance and battery life take a hit whether or not the miner turns a profit.
The Register - Independent news and views for the tech community. Part of Situation Publishing. Join our daily or weekly newsletters, subscribe to a specific section or set News alerts. The Register uses cookies. Brakes slammed on Pentagon's multibillion cloud deal. Every major OS maker misread Intel's docs. Get on top of reliability with our best practices webinar.
Policy The Channel Oz Budget Sony reports shortage of cute robot puppies! Google teases world with latest math coprocessor for AI Google's socially awkward geeks craft socially awkward AI bot that calls people for you.
Verity Stob Yes, people see straight through male displays of bling they're only after a fling New Monty Python movie to turn old jokes into new royalties Mystery crapper comes a cropper The steaks have never been higher: Swiss Lidl is selling local cannabis. Thinking of using it to mine Bitcoin? Most read Equifax reveals full horror of that monstrous cyber-heist of its servers Microsoft's most popular SQL Server product of all time runs on Linux Heir to SMS finally excites carriers, by making Google grovel Admin needed server fast, skipped factory config … then bricked it Hacking charge dropped against Nova Scotia teen who slurped public records from the web.
More from The Register. Junk food meets junk money: Lloyds Bank bans Bitcoin purchases by credit card customers B-b-b.. Cops seek 4 for aggravated burglary in Midsomer Murders town Fintech workers reportedly targeted. UK reaches peak Bitcoin as bin firm accepts cryptocurrency 'It's not a publicity stunt,' says BusinessWaste.
JavaScript fingered for poking cash-spilling holes in Bitcoin wallets If you've got an old money store, check it for hacked gaps. Bitcoin price soars amid technical troubles for exchanges Outages throw a wrench into profit taking. Whitepapers Don't Overlook Your Email Archiving Systems Today, business users need on-the-go access to all their critical data, which includes emails, documents and attachments.
To understand how Windows approaches managing permissions, this paper will provide some background on how permissions or privileges work. Massive backlogs, legacy debt, and scarce resources can hinder digital transformation efforts. So, how you can overcome these challenges? Sponsored links Get The Register's Headlines in your inbox daily - quick signup! About us Who we are Under the hood Contact us Advertise with us. Sign up to our Newsletters Join our daily or weekly newsletters, subscribe to a specific section or set News alerts Subscribe.