Microsoft updates the Edge browser against illegal cryptocurrency mining

Over the past two years, the phenomenon of illegal cryptocurrency miners has grown on the Internet and, by managing to sneak into users' computers secretly through malware, they were able to steal their energy and computational capacity. These days, Microsoft has moved to protect users of its Edge browser from the effects of these malicious software.

An option to stop illegal mining

In a post on his blog, the technology giant said he had enabled a feature that will detect and prevent the download of "potentially unwanted applications" (PUA) such as cryptojackers or adware.

As Microsoft said, PUAs can slow down a user's computer. They can also lead to excessive fan noise and overheating while stealing the victim's electricity for background extraction.

Cryptojackers use code hidden on websites or downloaded to users' devices to harness the processing power of the computer to extract cryptocurrencies.

Microsoft explained that it added this feature after users complained that when downloading free software from the Internet they often found themselves with "poor reputation" applications installed simultaneously.

The new feature, available in Edge versions from 80.0.338.0 onwards, is disabled in the default settings, but can be enabled in the Privacy and services settings panel.

Beware of legitimate sources

If it is true that you have to be careful of the sites from which you download free software because they are full of cryptojackers, you must not let your guard down even with the safest and most legitimate sources. A year ago, Symantec discovered eight Windows apps on the Microsoft Store that hosted a version of Coinhive, a commonly distributed script for mining the monero cryptocurrency (XMR).

The apps were removed from the site after Microsoft was notified. Another example is BadShell, a very sophisticated cryptojacker that is hidden within legitimate processes such as Windows PowerShell. Once installed on your PC, it starts secretly running malicious mining scripts.

Unfortunately, threats of this type are not easily recognizable by most antiviruses, as executables signed by Windows such as PowerShell are generally considered reliable a priori.

A Skybox Security report in 2018 says that crypto mining malware has outperformed ransomware as a favorite weapon of cybercriminals. The company's figures suggest that cryptojacking included 32% of all cyber attacks at the moment.

Regarding its new functionality to block illegal miners, Microsoft said: "Our goal is to help users get the apps they want, allowing them to maintain control over their devices and experiences."