News

McAfee Warns Cryptocurrency Malware Will Get Worse

You may or may not be aware, but every quarter McAfee releases a report stating what they believe is currently (or going to be) the biggest threat in terms of computer and online security. We should at this point clarify that this is the anti-virus company. Not John McAfee, who incidentally has had very little to do with them for quite a while now.

In the latest report published (which you can read in full here) the anti-virus company is warning consumers and businesses that cryptocurrency malware will be one of the biggest threats moving into the new year.

What Form Would This Take?

This is something that we have already seen in limited ways in 2018. You may have noted several reports throughout the year of websites essentially containing malware within the data. This malware uses your system’s resources to generate cryptocurrency income. Most of you probably wouldn’t mind as long as A) You were told and B) It wasn’t too invasive. The problem with this as malware, however, is that you are not made aware of it.

What Can I Do To Protect Myself?

Well, herein lies a bit of a problem. It rather hard to detect, at least for the basic user, when this happens. Various anti-virus programs have already looked at introducing methods that could potentially inform you or block the use of your resources, but they are still very early doors in terms of development.

The simplest thing to say, which is a good general rule of thumb for the internet, is to not visit any dodgy websites. You might not be the only one using your computer!

What do you think? – Let us know in the comments!