Cybersecurity firm McAfee: Cryptocurrency mining attacks increased 4,000% in 2018

The use of software related to cryptocurrency mining cyberattacks increased significantly during 2018, according to a report released Thursday by cybersecurity firm McAfee.

A mining cyberattack is a process where a hacker takes control of a victim's computer and uses it to mine coins. Even if someone's computer is infected with attacking malware, they won't realize it's been taken over. Malware may cause a computer to perform poorly, but the computer won't show a program error.

Many malware attacks need to be downloaded to a PC, but many hackers can also perform cyberattacks online. For example, some websites can secretly use the computing power of a user's computer while the user is browsing the website's pages.

According to the McAfee report, different data show that the real income of mining cyber attackers varies. Some hackers are so advanced that they can control a large number of computers without being detected, and their income will be considerable.

Reports of cryptocurrency mining attacks date back to 2016, increased in 2017, and soared in 2018, increasing by 4,000%. Most scammers send messages through apps, claiming that a certain software can solve cryptocurrency-related problems. Then users will download these malicious software. Even more cunningly, some hackers attach cyber attack extensions to the open source media player Kodi .