Understanding How Bitcoin Mining Poses Security Risks

The value of Bitcoin has had its ups and downs over the past several years, but continues to attract interest in www.mcafee.com/activate product key

 the midst of a chaotic market. The rapid growth of this alternate currency has dominated headlines and ignited a cryptocurrency www.mcafee/activate boom that left consumers everywhere mcafee.com/activate product key wondering how to get a slice of the Bitcoin pie. For those that want to join the craze www.mcafee.com/activate download without trading traditional currencies like U.S. dollars, a process called “Bitcoin mining” appears to be a great  www.mcafee.com/activate way to get involved. However, Bitcoin mining introduces a number of security risks.

What is Bitcoin mining?

Mining for Bitcoin is like mining for gold—you put in the work and you get your reward. But instead of back-breaking labor, you earn the  www.mcafee/activate currency with your time and computer processing power. “Miners”, as www.mcafee.com/activate they are called, essentially upkeep and help secure Bitcoin’s decentralized accounting system www.mcafee.com/activate product key Each time there’s a transaction it’s recorded in a digital ledger called the “blockchain.” Miners help www.mcafee.com/activate download to update the ledger www.mcafee.com/activate by downloading a special piece of software that allows them to verify and collect new transactions to be added to the blockchain. Then, they must solve a www.mcafee/activate mathematical puzzle to be able to add a block of transactions to the chain. In return, they earn Bitcoins, as well as transaction fees mcafee.com/activate product key.

What are the security risks?

As the digital currency has matured, Bitcoin mining has become more challenging. In the beginning a user could mine on their home www.mcafee/activate computer and earn a good amount of the digital currency, www.mcafee.com/activate but  www.mcafee.com/activate product key these days the math problems have become so complicated that it requires a lot of expensive computing power.

This is where the risks come in. Since miners need an increasing amount of computer power to earn Bitcoin, some have started mcafee.com/activate product key compromising public Wi-Fi networks so they www.mcafee.com/activate download can access users’ www.mcafee.com/activate download devices to mine for Bitcoin.  Such an www.mcafee/activate event happened at a coffee shop in 

, which was infected with malware that caused a 10-second delay when logging in to the cafe’s Wi-Fi network www.mcafee.com/activate product key.  www.mcafee.com/activate downloadThe malware authors were using www.mcafee.com/activate this time to access the users’ laptops for mining mcafee.com/activate product key.

In addition to public Wi-Fi networks, millions of websites are being compromised to access users’ devices for mining. In fact, this has become  www.mcafee.com/activate download such a widespread problem, that over 1  are believed to be slowed  www.mcafee/activate down by web-based mining. And slowing your device www.mcafee.com/activate download down is not even the worst thing that could happen. A device that mcafee.com/activate product keyis www.mcafee.com/activate product key, essentially destroying it www.mcafee.com/activate.