Cryptojacking safety: Mozilla Firefox introduces new feature to block cryptocurrency malware

Mozilla Firefox is being hailed by the crypto industry for taking a bold step in testing a new feature aimed at offering protection against crypto mining malware and fingerprinting attacks.

The anti-tracking feature tested by Firefox prevents websites from being able to access your browser and track your activity even after clearing cookies. Mozilla Firefox will now block cryptocurrency mining scripts that attempt to hijack a PC’s resources to mine digital currency, otherwise known as Cryptojacking.

Considered as the next great cyber evil, cryptojacking is one of the worst forms of malware attacks and is quite difficult to detect. Firefox Nightly 68 and Beta 67 versions will restrict websites from being able to fingerprint your browser and prevent malware from accessing your computer’s resources to mine cryptocurrency.

The release notes of the beta version of Firefox stated, “users can block known crypto miners [cryptojacking scripts] and fingerprinters in the Custom settings or their Content Blocking preferences.”

Mozilla has partnered with Disconnect, a privacy and security software firm, to bring this new feature to its open-source browser. According to BleepingComputer, Disconnect’s blacklist is supposedly capable of blocking in-browser mining services.

BadPackets, a security research firm, claimed that Coinhive mining script is responsible for 81.6% of all web-based cryptojacking, while Crypto-Loot was responsible for 10.2-per cent of web-based cryptojacking.

While Cryptojacking has become a significant concern, the legality tends to vary based on the location. A Ukrainian man faces six years in prison for cryptojacking while a Japanese court recently acquitted a man who was accused of the same.

As of now, the new features are disabled by default but can be enabled by – Heading to the Privacy & Security tab on the Preferences menu. Then, select the Custom within Content Blocking and select both the Cryptominers and Fingerprinters options.