YouTube seems to be the latest "victim" of the Flemish after Monero, and this is because the ads displayed over the video clips from the platform mine the virtual monera without the website visitors knowing. Everything was discovered thanks to the Avira antivirus, which now blocks the scripts that mine Monero through the browser, and users began to complain about what was happening on the YouTube platform the other day.
YouTube is not to blame for the existence of these scripts, but users whose computers display alerts to block them accuse Google's platform of not doing anything to block their existence. Basically, people who watch YouTube videos and are shown ads with Monero scripts, will unconsciously mine the virtual currency, the computer processors running at maximum power while the ad is displayed.
YouTube – Ads are used to mine Monero
YouTube was the target of hackers because, with over 1.5 billion monthly active people, Google's platform is the largest of its kind on the planet, so there is great potential to generate money. In order to be able to display these ads in YouTube videos, hackers abused the Google platform for displaying ads, but most likely new security measures will be imposed so that the problem does not appear too soon.
Hey @avast_antivirus seems that you are blocking crypto miners (#coinhive) in @YouTube #ads
Thank you https://t.co/p2JjwnQyxz— Diego Betto (@diegobetto) January 25, 2018
YouTube can generate handsome money for hackers who use these methods, they have minimal expenses with advertisements, especially if users do not actually access them, the Moneroruland mining script immediately after displaying the advertisement. Some theories say that it is even illegal to steal a computer's resources for one's own purposes, so anyone who does this exposes themselves to major risks, and YouTubers are constantly fighting to protect their platform.
The same form me. Maybe youtube is using coinhive. how? pic.twitter.com/GUSItBp1tM
— Neretva (@neretva2010) January 24, 2018
YouTube is an example that any website can be affected by problems of this kind, especially since they come from advertisements and not from the web page itself.
