Even though public interest in cryptocurrency is growing, it is not always for the right reasons. Criminals have taken a strong liking to crypto, especially when it comes to mining them with other people’s computer resources. It seems there has been a growing number of cryptocurrency mining-oriented Kodi add-ons. As such, the developers are cracking down on this activity and will remove all of these add-ons in the near future.
Malicious Crypto Mining Add-ons for Kodi
It is quite disconcerting that criminals are trying so many different tactics to illegally mine cryptocurrencies. We have seen an increase in malicious mining software, as well as the embedding of code within browsers, web pages, and so forth. All of this activity gives cryptocurrency an even worse reputation than it already had.
It now seems criminals have taken this approach one step further, as they are targetting users of the popular Kodi platform. For those who are unaware, Kodi is an all-in-one media streaming solution for videos, photos, and music. It can run on many platforms and accommodate most types of hardware due to its lightweight nature.
This is partially what makes Kodi so appealing to criminals, by the look of things. Their recent course of action involves developing rogue add-ons for this media solution, but ones that do not serve peoples’ needs. Instead, these add-ons mine cryptocurrencies using a device’s resources, which can lead to a slowed experience, as well as potentially damage the device in question.
The Kodi team has always made it clear they do not allow for monetization of Kodi add-ons at the expense of end users. Some add-ons require a subscription, which is perfectly fine. Purposefully hijacking users’ device resources for cryptocurrency mining is absolutely unacceptable. As such, these add-ons will be removed from the Kodi Store in the very near future.
One of those add-ons seemingly uses the Coinhive script. This particular Kodi add-on was indexed through an unofficial add-on library, which makes it easier for developers to distribute new creations. Thankfully, someone caught wind of what this particular tool was doing and quickly reported it to the Kodi team. Removing it seems more than warranted at this stage.
From this point forward, cryptocurrency mining using Kodi add-ons will not be tolerated. Anyone violating this rule will be permanently banned from the community, regardless of previous tools being distributed. The project also has its own malicious script blocker, which can disable add-ons on a global scale once they are blacklisted. All of this goes to show criminals will not hesitate to explore new ways of mining cryptocurrencies without user consent.
