Massive Cryptocurrency Rig Discovered Under Polish Court's Floor, Stealing Power (arstechnica.com) 20
According to Polish news channel TVN24, a secret cryptomining rig was found under the floors of a Polish court, stealing thousands of Polish Zlotys worth of energy per month (the equivalent of roughly $250 per 1,000 Zlotys). "It's currently unknown how long the rig was running because the illegal operation went undetected, partly because the computers used were connected to the Internet through their own modems rather than through the court's network," reports Ars Technica. From the report: While no one has been charged yet with any crimes, the court seemingly has suspects. Within two weeks of finding the rig, the court terminated a contract with a company responsible for IT maintenance in the building, TVN24 reported. Before the contract ended, the company fired two employees that it said were responsible for maintenance in the parts of the building where the cryptomine was hidden. Poland's top law enforcement officials, the Internal Security Agency, have been called in to investigate. The Warsaw District Prosecutor's Office has hired IT experts to help determine exactly how much electricity was stolen from Poland's Supreme Administrative Court in Warsaw, TVN24 reported.
The Supreme Administrative Court is the last resort for sensitive business and tax disputes, but no records seem to have been compromised. Judge Sylwester Marciniak -- the chairman of the Judicial Information Department of the Supreme Administrative Court -- told TVN24 that the discovery of the cryptomine "did not result in any threat to the security of data stored" in the court.
The Supreme Administrative Court is the last resort for sensitive business and tax disputes, but no records seem to have been compromised. Judge Sylwester Marciniak -- the chairman of the Judicial Information Department of the Supreme Administrative Court -- told TVN24 that the discovery of the cryptomine "did not result in any threat to the security of data stored" in the court.
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How much ... (Score:2)
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Re: How much ... (Score:2)
This is Europe, airconditioning is too expensive. Also Poland, rather cold.
$250/month in energy in Europe is a rather small mining rig, likely a single computer with 2-4GPU.
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$250/month in energy in Europe is a rather small mining rig
TFA only mentions "$250" as the conversion rate for 1000 zlotys.
That is not the cost of the energy consumed, which is not specified other than "thousands of zlotys".
So $250*N, where N is greater than one.
Re: How much ... (Score:2)
The problem is you wonâ(TM)t fit much more on a regular power circuit. If they somehow got near to 2kW breakers would start popping whenever the circuit was used, which would increase the likelihood an electrician would trace down the âoeproblemâ. Unless they also got dedicated power lines installed, but that isnâ(TM)t easy or cheap enough to hide.
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Poland, Warsaw is at 52.2 degrees north.
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Poland, Warsaw is at 52.2 degrees north.
For Americans, that's about 500 miles north of Minneapolis.
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FTFY: So about 8,800 football fields then.
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Crypto bros -stole- power? (Score:3)
No way! That's shocking! Crypto is the bastion of ethical people!
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I remember in the earlier days of Bitcoin mining some guy supposedly figured out a way to run his mining rigs from the battery in his Tesla Model S and then used free Supercharger juice to recharge the battery. [electrek.co] Being able to afford all of that in the first place, just to get free power, is the most Bitcoin thing ever. Well, at least until these guys built a generator-based mining rig designed to run on waste natural gas from oil wells. [cnbc.com]
Now if I was sitting on a bunch of extra money and wanted to rip gullib
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Phalliton particles?
Sign me up! I mean, uh, it's for my friend....
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You don't even need to got to China for that. The "Do nothing plug" is a very old scam that has been sold by many British companies over the years, and doubtless in other countries too. There are several types.
"Energy saving"
Usually contain a capacitor that simply wastes energy, and an LED so you know it's not working.
"Ozone-free Ioniser"
A plastic box with an LED on it, that supposedly improves air quality. Some actual ionisers generate ozone which isn't good for you, so these do-nothing boxes can sometimes
How Long (Score:1)
Re: How Long (Score:2)
$250/month in a giant building, their total gas heating cost wouldâ(TM)ve gone down very slightly and their electric up very slightly.
This is a single computer with a few GPU or 1 or 2 ASIC worth of energy. The more worrying thing is what else could foreign/criminal actors get away with in those environments with something the size and consumption of a Raspberry Pi in those court rooms if they donâ(TM)t notice the giant computer.
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$250/month in a giant building
$250 is mentioned in TFA as the conversion rate to USDs, not the amount of energy consumed.
missing documentation (Score:2)
IT consultants forgot to mention that they put the entire court system on a blockchain. And they might want to turn those servers back on if the court wants to process fines.