Sunday, February 11th 2018
US and UK Government Websites Infected with Crypto-mining Malware
Potentially thousands of websites operated by various government ministries, departments, and statutory agencies, of the United States and the United Kingdom, could be infected with crypto-currency mining malware. The already infamously slow government websites, often crippled with bandwidth and hosting deficiencies, not to mention webpage design that's often behind web standards, are now embedded with crypto-miners thanks to outdated accessibility software.
Most government websites implement a web-based text-to-speech software called Browsealoud. Outdated versions of the software can be surreptitiously infected with crypto-mining scripts, by exploiting a vulnerability in the way the software dials home to the text-to-speech server. The scripts slow down computers by forcing them to mine crypto-currency for unauthorized people. Browsealoud has been developed by British software company Texthelp, which is reaching out to all its customers to update to the latest version of their software. It's always handy to have mining script blocking browser extensions.
Source:
Reuters
Most government websites implement a web-based text-to-speech software called Browsealoud. Outdated versions of the software can be surreptitiously infected with crypto-mining scripts, by exploiting a vulnerability in the way the software dials home to the text-to-speech server. The scripts slow down computers by forcing them to mine crypto-currency for unauthorized people. Browsealoud has been developed by British software company Texthelp, which is reaching out to all its customers to update to the latest version of their software. It's always handy to have mining script blocking browser extensions.
49 Comments on US and UK Government Websites Infected with Crypto-mining Malware
Would you just f*ucking die already mining??
So no.
Also, WTF does the zootopia image have to do with mining? Btarunr, you genuinely have me confused here.
These crypto currency mining seems to have brought the worst out of most people who are tech savvy enough to attempt it. Remember that TR build I did my one of the research labs? I have already caught one undergrad trying to run monero scripts on it. Needless to say that guy got booted out of the lab with all himself being put on academic probation.
Froggy man may be an exception. However you also cannot pretend not seeing the majority of crypto miners are jackasses.
You may be able to argue some of the big hash farms are jackasses for stealing video cards, but most INDIVIDUAL miners are in my estimation probably two or three video cards in the home.
EDIT: Ah, he's a sloth! My sloth like brain now gets it.
As for the inherent day 1 problem it tries to solve? A cheap way to send money internationally without fees. Bitcoin largely fails at this but others have succeeded.