By surreptitiously adding JavaScript code to a website, the central processing unit on a visitor’s computer is employed to join the effort to mine a digital currency. Web surfers have spotted such code on major websites, including American politics fact-checking site Politifact and CBS Corporation’s Showtime and Showtime Anytime sites. A more invasive scenario is for hackers to install malicious code so that every time the person uses their computer to surf the web the hackers will attempt to mine for digital currency, Tobok said. The Clean Water Coin Initiative, a non-profit organization that has partnered with Charity: Water, has raised more than US$2,000 by asking people to donate 0.1 per cent of their digital currency transactions. Bitcoin, the self-proclaimed original decentralized digital currency, is hovering around $8,000 (U.S.) as investors pour into alternative currencies.

Source: thestar November 19, 2017 17:03 UTC