It takes a lot of energy and computer power to mine for bitcoins. To circumvent this problem, one bitcoiner used another property’s electricity to allegedly power his computers and mine for the digital currency.
The incident was reported on Dutch News and found that a 43-year-old resident in Tilburg – a city in the Netherlands – was arrested for stealing electricity to power 21 computers. The bitcoin farming operations were established on a commercial property.
This isn’t the only incident of individuals trying to mine for bitcoins using spurious means.
According to one report this week, a computer instructor at the SANS Technology Institute discovered that hackers had been able to penetrate standard security cameras with malware and then use that hardware to mine for bitcoins.
“Analysis of the malware is still ongoing, and any help is appreciated,” wrote Johannes Ullrich. “Here are some initial findings: The malware is an ARM Binary, indicating that it is targeting devices, not your typical x86 Linux server. The malware scans for Synology devices exposed on port 500.”
Late last year, a gaming company was fined $1 million for using players’ computers to mine bitcoin. The company confirmed that it experimented with its software by adding bitcoin code to it, but an engineer had released it to customers and later deposited nearly $4,000 in bitcoins to his personal bank account.