During the last years, cryptocurrencies have been expanding everywhere. And with their expansion appeared new ways to steal users’ funds. But can you imagine hackers stealing your energy power using your… smart fridge?

Smart Fridge Attacked by Crypto-Jackers

Well, that’s possible and this is what the cyber security company Checkpoint has discovered. ‘Crypto-jacking’ attacks (a combination between cryptocurrencies and hacking) have become a growing problem in the industry, and new devices connected to the internet are being affected by these hackers.

“We saw organizations whose monthly electricity bill was increased by hundreds of thousands of dollars,” explained Maya Horowitz, Threat Intelligence Group Manager for Checkpoint.

Hackers are able to infect fridges from big companies or individuals and use their processing power to mine currencies like Monero. In order to do so, the attacker needs to install a malicious software or open a site infected with these coin miners.

Some sites, for example, are replacing advertising campaigns for crypto miners, asking permission to their visitors and mine cryptocurrencies. These attacks have been very common between 2017 and 2018, because the price of virtual currencies skyrocketed to new highs. At the moment, these attacks are slowing down, but they remain an active threat.

For example, back in September 146,704 worldwide cryptojacking attacks have been registered in September. And in December, the number of attack grew to 22.4 million. This is something similar to what happened to the price of Bitcoin that moved from $3,000 to $20,000 in just a few weeks.

Hackers use to attack and target big organizations; they provide an important amount of power and mine virtual currencies more effectively. It is also important to mention that crypto-jacking scripts are difficult to detect by some anti-virus.

It is important to mention that smart TVs, cellphones, and fridges are able to mine cryptocurrencies as well if they have been infected. Be aware of these attacks and always control the CPU power used by the device you use.

In the past, we wrote at CryptStorm News that some hackers were attacking individuals watching football matches or other sports.