How to Prevent Websites From Using CPU to Mine Cryptocurrency – Guide
Cryptocurrencies are digital or virtual currencies that use cryptography for security. Because they are anonymous and decentralized, they can be used for payments that cannot be tracked by governments. As cryptocurrency mining has gained popularity, website owners are now using cryptocurrency mining scripts to use the CPU power of visitors to generate profits. This also inspired some developers to come up with methods to block cryptocurrency mining in the web browser through various methods. The Pirate Bay, the world’s most popular torrent site, was recently seen testing a Monero cryptocurrency miner on their sites. The site admitted that it could use coin mining in the future to keep the site up and running. Several other reports of a similar nature followed. This practice is not new, but the Pirate Bay was the first popular site seen using a cryptocurrency miner. This has also fueled the ethics debate, as website owners have been found to keep visitors in the dark. However, I was surprised to find that many users who commented on the article and on Facebook didn’t care that their favorite website was using CPU power to generate revenue. This could be because torrent sites host tons of notorious ads. Before I go ahead and tell you how to block cryptocurrency mining in web browser let me tell you how to find out if you are already a target of such mining activities.
Block cryptocurrency mining through browser extensions
If you are on the desktop and using Google Chrome, Firefox or Opera, blocking coin mining scripts is quite easy. Just install the No Coin extension (Google Chrome | Mozilla Firefox | Opera). This will prevent coin mining sites from running scripts in your browser, and the developer is committed to keeping this list up to date for now. Popular ad blocking extensions such as Adblock and uBlock have also updated their filters to block these scripts. If you use other browsers like Safari or Microsoft Edge, you can try using the Ghostery extension, which also blocks some of these scripts. If you find that the browser is not blocking a specific coin mining script, you can email Ghostery and add it to the database.
Block cryptocurrency mining through antivirus apps
Most antivirus software now blocks cryptocurrency mining scripts. The only problem is that this feature may not be available in the free tier and you may have to pay for them. Malwarebytes is one of several antivirus applications that allow you to block cryptocurrency mining scripts on Windows and Mac, and the advantage of this approach is that it blocks these scripts system-wide – so there is no need to enable it individually in browsers and applications.
On iPhone and iPad
These cryptocurrency mining sites can be easily blocked on iOS as long as you are using Safari. There are two ways to do this – disable Javascript or use a content blocker app like 1Blocker. Here it is how to disable Javascript in Safari for iOS. Note that this will break many websites and you may not be able to read or watch things online like you used to. Websites can look like they were designed in 1995 – too much text, not functional buttons, and lack of photos or videos, which is far from an ideal scenario these days. Using a content blocker app is a much better approach. Follow these steps to use 1Blocker. We are currently unable to find a way to block these scripts in Firefox for iOS or Chrome for iOS.
android
On Android, it is quite simple to block cryptocurrency mining scripts if you use Firefox or Chrome. Follow these steps for Firefox. This will block all cryptocurrency mining scripts in Firefox for Android. The following steps will help you to do the same in Google Chrome for Android.
Final note
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