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According to a report by a security firm named TrendMicro, numerous users in Asia and Europe were distributed cryptocurrency mining malware with the help of Google ads or commonly known as Google DoubleClick ad service.

TrendMicro published a Blog on their Security and Intelligence section stating that a JavaScript program called CoinHive which mines Monero (a digital currency) using a computer’s processing power, was given access to multiple users by attackers with the help of Google ads or Google’s DoubleClick. CoinHive works in the background of a website, and that’s how it was used to distribute malware. CoinHive also operates without the knowledge or consent of a user.

Google ads service or Double Click is used by the world’s most well-known video sharing website YouTube. The miner impacted some users on Youtube according to a blog on ArsTechnica.

Another thing mentioned in the report published by TrendMicro is that there was another different web miner was involved which was connected to a private pool which helped to distribute malware.

The report also stated that two different web miner scripts were incorporated in addition to the actual advertisement in the malvertisement.

According to the report, the webpage which was affected by the distributed malware through google ads will show the actual or legitimate advertisement. Meanwhile, the other two web miners will perform their task of distributing malware through google ads.

They also speculated that the attackers used these advertisements on legitimate websites as a ploy to target a good chunk of customers in comparison to only the users that they could have focused on compromised devices.

As a result, after January 24, the traffic involving the cryptocurrency miners has been significantly decreased because of the use of Google ads to distribute malware.

Another stat on which light was shredded on this report was the computer’s performance was reduced significantly which was affected by the google ads used to distribute malware. The malware allowed to affect as much as 80% of the computer’s processing power which showed how much the performance must have been reduced.

According to prior reports, clandestine cryptocurrency mining has been a rising trend in the recent times. Many companies were affected by the google ads which distributed malware. One of the big names in Oil pipeline Transneft was one of the companies which reported that their systems were affected by the malware distributed through google ads. There are many other companies who raised the same concerns regarding their systems being affected by the malware.

A report was published back in November which suggested that CoinHive has taken over as one of the most common pieces of malware in circulation today.

So what are your thoughts on this issue? Do you think Google should take part in the resolution of this whole scenario?

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