Showtime May Have Used Your CPU to Mine Cryptocoin

Two Showtime domains (showtime.com and showtimeanytime.com) are currently loading and running Coinhive, a JavaScript library that mines Monero using the CPU resources of users visiting Showtime's websites: it is unclear if someone hacked Showtime and included the mining script without the company's knowledge, or if they are experimenting with a new way to generate revenue.

It could also be that Showtime is loading the script on purpose, as part of an experiment. This is the most likely explanation, as the setThrottle value is 0.97, meaning the mining script will remain dormant for 97% of the time. A hacker, knowing his intrusion will likely be detected, would usually set a small throttle value and mine as much Monero before getting discovered. Coinhive has been advertised as a technology that could replace ads by allowing site owners to mine for the Monero cryptocurrency. The technology is very controversial as it uses the site visitor's resources to mine Monero, driving CPU usage through the roof.

Read the article and my reaction is it isn't cool for them to use other people's resources without their consent. If Showtime was hacked to run the script then shame on them for lax security.

When i heard the pirate bay was doing this i thought meh. But with CBS's Showtime i think h4x0r's.
Then again Volkswagen willingly cheated environmental laws. So who knows.

Edit
partial credit to Jdreyer, bluesnews forums.

Screw that shit as you know dam well the adds will still stay up and this will run also. now if i can get moives or shows for free by letting them mine on my pc maybe

I think this could be an interesting new shift in internet monetization. What if you could run a client or extension on your system, which you could add domains that while you are on their site, would run coinhive at a user selectable threshold. This client or extension would then send a signal to that site that tells them that this viewer is running coinhive for their benefit (the generated coin block would go straight to that company/domain), and in response the website would load a no advertisement version. I think many users might be willing to make that trade, and depending on how long you are on the site and hashrates/coin value, it might be worth more to the website than one visit for ads.

With all of this mining popping up. I may actually have to install some ad blocker that blocks this stuff.

I've never used them (I understand ads are a necessity for content to exist, if the ads are abusive I just don't visit).

It's like a never ending cycle. Someone invents a more intrusive form of advertising/revenue-generation, more users block, revenue goes down - rinse and repeat.

britjh22 said:

I think this could be an interesting new shift in internet monetization. What if you could run a client or extension on your system, which you could add domains that while you are on their site, would run coinhive at a user selectable threshold. This client or extension would then send a signal to that site that tells them that this viewer is running coinhive for their benefit (the generated coin block would go straight to that company/domain), and in response the website would load a no advertisement version. I think many users might be willing to make that trade, and depending on how long you are on the site and hashrates/coin value, it might be worth more to the website than one visit for ads.

Click to expand...

Wouldn't count on it. What'll happen is that some sites will roll this into their platform and keep the ads as-is. They'll simply update the cookies ToS notice to state they also mine and using the site is acceptance of that.

Greed is what drives this for most sites. Did we get 10 ads, pop-ups, pop-unders, audio ads, video ads, forced scrollers, and every other annoying innovation because they lost revenue (at the time)? No, we got it because they wanted more revenue and pushed the boundaries until enough people got fed up (hence adblockers).

in Russia, user IS the content

Yikes... I see an opportunity here. Time to write some software that will block cryptomining virus websites from using your CPU/GPU resources. Anyone? The big "name brand" blocker software creators are probably all ready on the payroll and get their share.

BlackManx said:

Yikes... I see an opportunity here. Time to write some software that will block cryptomining virus websites from using your CPU/GPU resources. Anyone? The big "name brand" blocker software creators are probably all ready on the payroll and get their share.

Click to expand...

I think the IP's for coinhive had already been found so that they can be blocked, but that could just turn into cat and mouse.