cryptocurrency: Hackers mined a fortune from Indian websites

BENGALURU: India might have reservations about cryptocurrencies, but government websites in the country are inadvertently helping hackers make magic internet money off of their websites.

Government websites such as that of the director of municipal administration of Andhra Pradesh, Tirupati Municipal Corporation and Macherla municipality are among hundreds of Indian websites being used to mine cryptocurrencies, an analysis by security researchers show.

The malware, known as cryptojacking, is the unauthorised use of someone else’s computer to mine cryptocurrencies. Hackers get users to click on a malicious link in an email that loads crypto mining code on the computer or infect a website with JavaScript code that mines cryptocurrencies using up a visitor’s computing power without consent.

“Hackers target government websites for mining cryptocurrency because those websites get high traffic and mostly people trust them,” said security researcher Indrajeet Bhuyan. “Earlier,…