You may be making cryptocurrency for hackers without realising

Adblockers are trying to prevent people from accidentally helping criminals mine cryptocurrencies like bitcoin. Malicious code running in the background of thousands of webpages can hijack a visitor’s computing power to generate cryptocurrency in a process called cryptojacking. There is no sure-fire way to avoid cryptojacking, but blacklists managed by adblockers should keep you away from the worst culprits.

Around 95 per cent of crpytojacking code found on websites is modified from  something produced by the German company Coinhive. Their business model is that instead of websites bombarding visitors with adverts, they could mine a small amount of the cryptocurrency Monero, known for its high levels of anonymity. The websites get an income, which Coinhive gets a 30 per cent cut of, and the visitors get ad-free browising.