Hooked-in Sweden is becoming a haven for cryptojackers siphoning off capacity and energy to mine for digital currencies.
The number of such attacks surged an estimated 10,100 percent in the biggest Nordic economy in the fourth quarter of last year, about double the jump globally, according to Symantec Corp’s 2018 Internet Security Threat Report.
And the thing is, it is not even illegal.
“Cryptojacking, where you install a program without my permission and steal capacity, is very impolite,” said Ola Rehnberg, head of Nordic Enterprise Security at Symantec. “But not a crime in itself. So the hacker takes a very small risk.”
However, it does cost society. Coin mining can slow down devices, overheat batteries, and in some cases, render devices unusable. For enterprises, the virtual gold rush can put corporate networks at risk and inflate cloud central processing unit usage, adding cost.
The whole thing has become “an industry,” where “hackers work nine to five, Monday to Friday and go on Christmas holidays,” Rehnberg said.
The coin mining trend in Sweden is partly due to the infiltration of Web sites, meaning that a Web site will steal capacity as long as you are on it.
However, it can also happen through the more traditional route, where software is installed on a computer.
Sweden is a good target because there is great interest in bitcoin, but also because the country is rich and people have fast, modern computers.
“This is a race,” Rehnberg said. “A faster computer enables a higher reward.”
As digital currency prices soared the business has become very lucrative, though things could change rapidly.
“Then the bad guys will find other ways to earn money,” Rehnberg said. At some point in the future they will target your home, he said.
SEMICONDUCTORS: The German laser and plasma generator company will expand its local services as its specialized offerings support Taiwan’s semiconductor industries Trumpf SE + Co KG, a global leader in supplying laser technology and plasma generators used in chip production, is expanding its investments in Taiwan in an effort to deeply integrate into the global semiconductor supply chain in the pursuit of growth. The company, headquartered in Ditzingen, Germany, has invested significantly in a newly inaugurated regional technical center for plasma generators in Taoyuan, its latest expansion in Taiwan after being engaged in various industries for more than 25 years. The center, the first of its kind Trumpf built outside Germany, aims to serve customers from Taiwan, Japan, Southeast Asia and South Korea,
Gasoline and diesel prices at domestic fuel stations are to fall NT$0.2 per liter this week, down for a second consecutive week, CPC Corp, Taiwan (台灣中油) and Formosa Petrochemical Corp (台塑石化) announced yesterday. Effective today, gasoline prices at CPC and Formosa stations are to drop to NT$26.4, NT$27.9 and NT$29.9 per liter for 92, 95 and 98-octane unleaded gasoline respectively, the companies said in separate statements. The price of premium diesel is to fall to NT$24.8 per liter at CPC stations and NT$24.6 at Formosa pumps, they said. The price adjustments came even as international crude oil prices rose last week, as traders
Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co (TSMC, 台積電), which supplies advanced chips to Nvidia Corp and Apple Inc, yesterday reported NT$1.046 trillion (US$33.1 billion) in revenue for last quarter, driven by constantly strong demand for artificial intelligence (AI) chips, falling in the upper end of its forecast. Based on TSMC’s financial guidance, revenue would expand about 22 percent sequentially to the range from US$32.2 billion to US$33.4 billion during the final quarter of 2024, it told investors in October last year. Last year in total, revenue jumped 31.61 percent to NT$3.81 trillion, compared with NT$2.89 trillion generated in the year before, according to
PRECEDENTED TIMES: In news that surely does not shock, AI and tech exports drove a banner for exports last year as Taiwan’s economic growth experienced a flood tide Taiwan’s exports delivered a blockbuster finish to last year with last month’s shipments rising at the second-highest pace on record as demand for artificial intelligence (AI) hardware and advanced computing remained strong, the Ministry of Finance said yesterday. Exports surged 43.4 percent from a year earlier to US$62.48 billion last month, extending growth to 26 consecutive months. Imports climbed 14.9 percent to US$43.04 billion, the second-highest monthly level historically, resulting in a trade surplus of US$19.43 billion — more than double that of the year before. Department of Statistics Director-General Beatrice Tsai (蔡美娜) described the performance as “surprisingly outstanding,” forecasting export growth
RSS