Unauthorized use of the victim's computer to stealthily mine digital currency.

Unauthorized use of the victim's computer to stealthily mine digital currency.

• A. Cloud Cryptojacking
• B. Cryptanalysis
• C. Keylogging
• D. Ransomware

Answer: (A)

This is about cryptojacking—the covert use of someone’s computing resources to mine cryptocurrency without their consent. Here, the attacker uses the victim’s machine to perform mining tasks in the background, consuming CPU/GPU power and electricity while the user remains unaware or the activity seems like normal workloads. The “cloud” qualifier in the correct option highlights that mining can occur through compromised resources, including the victim’s devices, without their knowledge, making it a stealthy exploitation of their hardware for financial gain. The other options describe different attacks: cryptanalysis is about breaking cryptographic algorithms, keylogging captures keystrokes, and ransomware encrypts files to demand a ransom. None of those involve secretly turning the victim’s machine into a cryptocurrency mining device.

This is about cryptojacking—the covert use of someone’s computing resources to mine cryptocurrency without their consent. Here, the attacker uses the victim’s machine to perform mining tasks in the background, consuming CPU/GPU power and electricity while the user remains unaware or the activity seems like normal workloads. The “cloud” qualifier in the correct option highlights that mining can occur through compromised resources, including the victim’s devices, without their knowledge, making it a stealthy exploitation of their hardware for financial gain.

The other options describe different attacks: cryptanalysis is about breaking cryptographic algorithms, keylogging captures keystrokes, and ransomware encrypts files to demand a ransom. None of those involve secretly turning the victim’s machine into a cryptocurrency mining device.