{"id":4210,"date":"2025-03-26T12:54:06","date_gmt":"2025-03-26T20:54:06","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.antivirusaz.com\/faq\/?post_type=ht_kb&#038;p=4210"},"modified":"2025-04-07T10:56:16","modified_gmt":"2025-04-07T18:56:16","slug":"what-is-cryptominer-malware","status":"publish","type":"ht_kb","link":"https:\/\/www.antivirusaz.com\/faq\/art\/what-is-cryptominer-malware\/","title":{"rendered":"What is cryptominer malware?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Cryptominers<\/strong>, also spelled as crypto-miners, are a type of malware that secretly uses your device\u2019s processing power to mine cryptocurrency for someone else. Instead of stealing your data, cryptominer malware hijacks your CPU or GPU to solve complex mathematical problems that generate digital currency\u2014usually without your knowledge or consent. This can slow down your device, overheat hardware, drain battery life, and increase electricity costs. Cryptominers can infect systems through malicious downloads, compromised websites, or even browser-based scripts. While they don\u2019t always cause direct data loss, they can degrade performance and security over time.<\/p>\n<p>Some known examples include <strong><em>Coinhive<\/em><\/strong>, a browser-based cryptominer that was embedded into websites without users\u2019 consent; <strong><em>CryptoLoot<\/em><\/strong>, which operates similarly but has been used in more aggressive campaigns; and <strong><em>XMRig-based<\/em> malware variants<\/strong>, which are often bundled with other <a href=\"\/security-center\/malware.html\">malicious software<\/a> and designed to mine Monero. <strong><a href=\"\/security-center\/virus-information\/kinsing.html\"><em>Kinsing<\/em><\/a><\/strong> is another example\u2014it targets cloud environments and Linux systems, exploiting vulnerabilities to spread and deploy cryptominers. Another example is <strong><a href=\"\/security-center\/virus-information\/kovter-trojan.html\"><em>Kovter<\/em><\/a><\/strong>, a <a href=\"\/faq\/art\/what-is-fileless-malware\/\">fileless malware<\/a> that has been used in cryptomining campaigns while avoiding traditional detection methods.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Unlike legitimate crypto mining<\/strong>, where users knowingly dedicate their hardware to mine digital coins, malware cryptominers operate in the background without permission. The key difference is consent\u2014regular mining is intentional, while cryptominer malware exploits your system for someone else&#8217;s profit.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Cryptominers, also spelled as crypto-miners, are a type of malware that secretly uses your device\u2019s processing power to mine cryptocurrency for someone else. Instead of stealing your data, cryptominer malware hijacks your CPU or GPU to solve complex mathematical problems that generate digital currency\u2014usually without your knowledge or consent. This can slow down your device, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"ht-kb-category":[509],"ht-kb-tag":[508,505,506],"class_list":["post-4210","ht_kb","type-ht_kb","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","ht_kb_category-malware","ht_kb_tag-crypto-miner-malware","ht_kb_tag-cryptominer-malware","ht_kb_tag-cryptominer-virus"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What is cryptominer malware?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.antivirusaz.com\/faq\/art\/what-is-cryptominer-malware\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What is cryptominer malware?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Cryptominers, also spelled as crypto-miners, are a type of malware that secretly uses your device\u2019s processing power to mine cryptocurrency for someone else. Instead of stealing your data, cryptominer malware hijacks your CPU or GPU to solve complex mathematical problems that generate digital currency\u2014usually without your knowledge or consent. This can slow down your device, [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.antivirusaz.com\/faq\/art\/what-is-cryptominer-malware\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Antivirus and Security Software FAQs &amp; Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-04-07T18:56:16+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.antivirusaz.com\/faq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/antivirusaz-faq-blog-logo.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1536\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/art\\\/what-is-cryptominer-malware\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/art\\\/what-is-cryptominer-malware\\\/\",\"name\":\"What is cryptominer malware?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-26T20:54:06+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-04-07T18:56:16+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/art\\\/what-is-cryptominer-malware\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/art\\\/what-is-cryptominer-malware\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/art\\\/what-is-cryptominer-malware\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What is cryptominer malware?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/\",\"name\":\"Antivirus and Security Software FAQs & Blog\",\"description\":\"Frequently asked questions about antivirus and security software, and other computer security related issues.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/#organization\"},\"alternateName\":\"AntivirusAZ.com FAQs & Blog\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"AntiVirusAZ.com\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/02\\\/antivirusaz-faq-blog-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/02\\\/antivirusaz-faq-blog-logo.png\",\"width\":1536,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"AntiVirusAZ.com\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What is cryptominer malware?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.antivirusaz.com\/faq\/art\/what-is-cryptominer-malware\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What is cryptominer malware?","og_description":"Cryptominers, also spelled as crypto-miners, are a type of malware that secretly uses your device\u2019s processing power to mine cryptocurrency for someone else. Instead of stealing your data, cryptominer malware hijacks your CPU or GPU to solve complex mathematical problems that generate digital currency\u2014usually without your knowledge or consent. 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