Hackers are opportunistic creatures. As device manufacturers continue to add more CPU cores and gigabytes of RAM to smartphones and tablets as well as enterprise-grade cloud servers, these devices will continue to be increasingly useful targets for botnets. What’s more, hackers will seek device vulnerabilities or exploit mobile applications and devices when a network is not secure.

Ransomware took the dark web by storm by creating such an easy way to monetize these vulnerabilities. As a side-effect, the cryptocurrency market exploded from the increased attention. Cryptocurrency mining—the process of confirming Bitcoin transactions and generating new units of digital currency—is perfectly legal. Developers are looking for ways to make money in a competitive mobile app market, and mining bitcoin via these apps has become an inviting venture. However, this method of monetization becomes a legal and ethical dilemma once users are not aware that their devices are being used to mine digital currency.

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