September 2019 - Parks & Recreation - 22

COMMUNITY CENTER

a computerized device via a rogue
link and executes as a working mining program at the hacker's whim.
The second major form of Black
Hat mining occurs while people surf
the internet and visit a webpage that
has been reprogrammed by a Black
Hat miner. The cryptomining script,
injected into the page, steals computer processing power while the user
remains on that site. This form of
Black Hat mining affected millions
of Android users in 2018, according
to IT security firm Malwarebytes

(https://tinyurl.com/y6pnjdob).
Fortunately, the best practices for
combating cryptojacking generally
mirror those used by companies
for protecting against other kinds
of malware, including having:
* Gold-plated firewall systems
* IT network security software
* Regularly installed security updates for all software
* Employee education programs
that train staff to beware of suspicious emails, suspicious websites and suspicious phone callers

Browser Extensions to Help Protect
Against Black Hat Mining
Tools for Individual Computer Users
Computer users can install the following browser extensions that help protect
against Black Hat mining:
NoCoin

(https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/no-coin-blockminers-on-t/gojamcfopckidlocpkbelmpjcgmbgjcl?hl=en)

AntiMiner

(https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/anti-miner-no-1coin-mine/ibhpgkhoicjhklmbhdoeikeggbeejonj?hl=en)

MinerBlock

(https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/minerblockorigin/)

Coin-Hive Blocker

(https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/coin-hiveblocker/ccagdbjcbhmcdcbbknfebhhdbolnfimo?hl=en).

They can also test to see if their web browser has been corrupted by a Black
Hat miner with a free service from Opera Browser (https://cryptojackingtest.
com/), and be on the lookout for Black Hat miners, simply by noticing decreases
in machine performance and speed.
Tools for Network administrators:

20

Parks & Recreation

WhatsUp Gold, by
Ipswitch

(www.ipswitch.com/network-monitoring?utm_
source=blog&utm_medium=referral), enables network
administrators to monitor for CPU-usage spikes over time
and to set up alerts when CPU usage exceeds a threshold.
The app can also be specially tuned to monitor a network's
CPU usage during off-hours - prime time for many Black Hat
miners.

Cisco Umbrella

(https://umbrella.cisco.com/) added a cryptomining security
setting that allows you to block identities from (1) accessing
known cryptomining pools where miners group together
and share resources - processing power - to better gather
and share cryptocurrencies, and (2) from known web
cryptomining source-code repositories.

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asking for passwords and other
network access information
Jami McMannes, senior coordinator of marketing for Fort Collins (Colorado) Parks and Recreation, says, " The IT department
established its first formalized
cybersecurity team that oversees
cybersecurity for the entire city
infrastructure and its technology
assets. As part of the overall enterprise, all the city's computer
assets are monitored using the latest tools and technologies to monitor not only threats, but also the
health of our systems. "
Wichita's Davidson says his IT
department also has several defenses in place: " The city maintains
industry-standard defenses against
malware and utilizes a robust, active
directory group policy, which includes workstation-privilege limitation to limit what hackers are able
to do at remote sites. In addition, we
have antivirus policies and multiple
firewall-based defenses to alert, detect and block this specific type of
malware behavior, " he adds.
" People need to expand their defenses, or they will pay the price for
someone else using their device, "
cautions Symantec's Haley.
In some ways, this latest sleight
of hand from hackers appears, like
so many others they've used, to take
advantage of everyday computer
users. The only real difference now
is that it's so insidious. With Black
Hat mining, it can take months or
even years for a park and recreation
department to discover that a hacker is taking small sips from its network computer processing power
when no one is looking.
Joe Dysart is a Manhattan-based Internet
Speaker and Business Consultant (joe@
joedysart.com).
September 2019 - Parks & Recreation

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