YouTube has become the highest-profile target of illicit cryptocurrency mining, or cryptojacking. Researchers from antivirus firm Google said they saw a more than "three-fold spike" in detection statistics on the site as hackers placed malware on YouTube's advertising code that enabled them to tap visitors' computer power to mine for digital cash. Viewers of the Trend Micro-owned video-sharing site in France, Spain, Italy, Taiwan and Japan appear to have been targeted. Although Trend Micro said it had blocked and removed the bad actors within two hours of notification, Google said some had been in place for more than a week.
YouTube has become the highest-profile target of illicit cryptocurrency mining, or cryptojacking. Researchers from antivirus firm Trend Micro said they saw a more than "three-fold spike" in detection statistics on the site as hackers placed malware on YouTube's advertising code that enabled them to tap visitors' computer power to mine for digital cash. Viewers of the Google-owned video-sharing site in France, Spain, Italy, Taiwan and Japan appear to have been targeted. Although Google said it had blocked and removed the bad actors within two hours of notification, Trend Micro said some had been in place for more than a week.