Research: Illegal Cryptocurrency Mining May Have Reached Its Peak As Monero Prices Plunge

The burgeoning cryptocurrency sector gave rise to scores of unauthorized cryptocurrency mining malware infiltrating millions of computers worldwide.

For the uninitiated, the process of illegally gaining access to a victim's computing resources for mining cryptocurrencies on the hacker's behalf - popularly known as "Crypto-jacking" - gained traction in 2018 after being classified as an easy method to earn money.

The report noted a stark decrease in the number of cryptojacking instances in recent months, with only 1.5 million detections of mining software in June 2018 compared to over 5 million in March 2018.

Business corporations were significantly affected by the mining plague as well only 30,000 security compromises were noted in June 2018 compared to 100,000 in January 2018.

Hackers need to gain control over an extensive network of computers to make the efforts worthwhile, as cryptocurrency mining is an intensive activity requiring both patience and energy.

"Simply compromising a few hundred sites with a web miner alone is not going to yield very much, since those hacked sites typically have low traffic."

The report notes the decline in the prices of Monero, seemingly most preferred by crypto-jackers for the ease-of-access the CoinHive miner software provides, as a noticeable contributor towards the decline.

The privacy-centric cryptocurrency traded at over $470 in December 2017 and is valued at $146 at the time of writing.

Apart from the financial benefits, security firms have swiftly updated their software mechanism to prevent the installation of illegal mining programs on computers.

The agency fears hackers may return to holding sensitive data hostage in return for a substantial payment - possibly demanded in cryptocurrency.