Crypto miners are wrecking small shops in my area

I helped the family-run print shop on my block when their computers kept crashing. Turned out a crypto miner was eating up all their resources. I removed it and showed them how to spot strange processes. Now I've seen three more local spots with the same issue. It feels like someone is targeting businesses here. What's the best way to warn other techs about this? Have you dealt with this in your town?

3 comments

3 Comments

lucas_fisher761mo ago

Used to think crypto miners were rare, guess they're more common now.

jake1891mo ago

Seriously? My next door neighbor has a whole rig humming in his garage now. Last month the local laundromat put up a sign asking people not to run extension cords from the outlets for mining. It's everywhere. The amount of power being used just to run those calculations is mind boggling.

morgan5741mo ago

But look at all the normal stuff that gulps power too! Every data center streaming movies uses crazy amounts, and nobody puts up signs for that. @lucas_fisher76 saying miners are more common just shows it's becoming a normal kind of power use, like charging electric cars. The noise is a fair point, but the focus on only crypto's power use feels picky when our whole digital life needs energy.