фото показано с : blokt.com

A student at Penn State University found it easy to create a makeshift Bitcoin miner in his dorm room. Patrick Cines, the freshman student of the university, brought an unusual computer with him that would work as a crypto miner and help him earn some money in college. After graduating in 2017, Cines reveals his exploits with the system in a CNBC interview.

The nature of cryptocurrencies is such that anyone can mine new coins and profit from it. For this, one would need some amount of computing power and ready access to electricity. These two resources are at a premium for most miners. The computers or miners solve cryptographic puzzles to unlock a new coin for which they are awarded a small share of the coin.

Detailing what he used, Cines notes:

“I had basically a box, maybe a foot and a half by a foot and a half tall. It was sitting in, right at the foot of my bed. Had several graphics cards.”

In the interview, he said that the machine was generating a sort of passive income for him as the computer box was consistently at work while he was attending classes or doing homework. However, because of the excessive electricity use, the machine produced a lot of heat. Cines said that the room’s atmosphere was “unbearable,” and he had to keep the window open.

A student using a miner and the school’s resources is not the only problem here. Some software used for mining cryptocurrencies could infect the campus network with malware.

Mike Banic, vice president of marketing at cybersecurity firm Vectra, said that crypto mining had become a nuisance because an attacker can use another person’s machine to make money. He said that an attacker could even gain access to the network and attack an organization.

In a survey of 11 schools, Vectra found instances of crypto mining in all places. In fact, students in universities were setting up such operations one to four times every day. Banic suggests that connecting to a global network like this could expose the students to hacks and attacks.

Cines, on the other hand, believes that malware is a low-risk threat. According to him, while he’s aware of some students’ computers outside of Penn State University being affected by malware, mining itself doesn’t expose schools to any risk if they have strong security.

Mining Nuisance Grows Bigger as a College Student Creates Makeshift Miner in Dorm Room was originally found on [blokt] - Blockchain, Bitcoin & Cryptocurrency News.

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