Cybersafety Part 4: Student computers hijacked by Block Chain miners

The Australian education sector is known to be a focus for hundreds of international cyber threat actors.

School students in particular are a target because many spend much of their free time online gaming, meaning their computers are hooked into the Internet for lengthy periods.

Threat actors wishing to capitalise on this pool of online computing power place Block Chain mining software in gaming add-ons, which, once loaded on an unsuspecting gamer’s device, starts using their device to mine crypto currency. Crypto currency mining is a very expensive electrical process because it is very CPU and RAM intensive and requires many hours per day to complete. This chewing up of computer resources causes performance to lag, the fan to thrash constantly and the battery to drain much sooner!

If you are a gamer and your computer appears to be ‘going crazy’ when it’s supposed to be idle, consider the possibility of it being infected with Block Chain mining software! As per the ICT Acceptable Use Policy, student devices should only be used for educational purposes, not gaming.