Cryptomining and Cryptojacking at Western

Western's Information Security Office (ISO) has found several personal devices on our network being used for cryptocurrency mining.  According to the federal Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Agency, "Cryptocurrency mining, or cryptomining, is the way in which cryptocurrency is earned. Individuals mine cryptocurrency by using cryptomining software to solve complex mathematical problems involved in validating transactions. Each solved equation verifies a transaction and earns a reward paid out in the cryptocurrency."  

Cryptomining takes enormous compute power.  To earn money, malicious actors have developed malware that can infect your system and use it for cryptomining unbeknownst to you (cryptojacking).  You may find your system performance degraded, your system crashing, or hardware components failing.  To ensure you are not a victim, make sure you take the normal precautions of keeping your system patched, ensuring up-to-date malware protection software is installed, and never clicking on links in emails unfamiliar to you.  Also, sign up for Western's multi-factor authentication (MFA).

Lastly, realize that if you are purposely cryptomining at Western, you are violating our Computer Use Responsible Computing policy.

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