The Japanese police are investigating the distribution of the program for hidden mining of the Monero cryptocurrency, the local edition Mainichi writes, citing its own sources.

Coinhive hidden miner distributors may face criminal prosecution in Japan

The Japanese police are investigating the case of the distribution of the program for the hidden mining of cryptocurrency Monero, writes the local edition Mainichi, citing its own sources.

The police believe that the suspects in the case violated the law, which prohibits the use of computer viruses. According to the sources, “alleged criminals created websites that installed Coinhive mining software on users' computers without their consent, without making clear notifications about mining,” writes Mainichi.

The police are currently investigating 3 individuals, including a web designer. One of them has already been sentenced by the Yokohama disciplinary court to a fine of ¥ 100,000 (about $ 904) for illegally hosting a computer virus. According to Mainichi, the defendant stated that the program was not a virus, but a method of monetizing traffic, such as online advertising. The case will go to Yokohama District Court.

Police officials say the defendants could face criminal prosecution because the installation and operation of Coinhive were carried out without the consent of the users, which made the devices not function as their owners wanted. It is reported that this is the first criminal case in Japan related to cryptocurrency mining.

The Coinhive program was created in 2017 and has become one of the most common online tools for mining Monero on websites, powered by electricity and computing resources of visitors. It has been known to be used through YouTube and government and university websites..

According to a January report by cybersecurity firm Check Point, 55% of companies around the world have experienced such crypto-hacks. The authors of the report call Coinhive the "most wanted" program for crypto-hacks.

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