500 million users are target of a Monero web miner

According to a study by AdGuard, at least 500 million users are target of the hidden miners of Monero. The number of users is related to the 220 portals of the 100,000 that have miners working with a javascript that uses the CPU of visitors to mine cryptocurrencies.

With these numbers it is estimated that Coinhive, the company behind this javascript code has raised between 3.7 and 5 million dollars, even after counting the 30% of profits they receive. The amounts are taken into account from the bases that are exposed on the same page of Coinhive

How does Monero work?

Monero is a cryptocurrency that has emphasis on the privacy of web users, unlike Bitcoin, the transactions that are made in Monero are almost impossible to track. Also this currency can only be mined through CPUs that have Proof of Work (PoW)

That means that almost any computer is capable of mining Monero, the advantage of working with CPUs that work using PoW is that it can prevent large-scale mining operations from being carried out and at the same time it is encouraged to work in decentralized systems.

Coinhive has already recommended that all web portals that use their services must emit some type of message that said page is doing cryptocurrency mining. However, beyond the suggestion it is very difficult to know how many portals comply with the measure.

The best way to prevent a computer from being used for mining without the consent of its user is to install plugins that block this type of actions. The best known are: Antiminer, NoCoin, and MinerBlock.