Do Charging Stations Benefit from Cryptojacking? A Novel Framework for Its Financial Impact Analysis on Electric Vehicles

Abstract

Electric vehicles (EVs) are becoming popular due to their efficiency, eco-friendliness, and the increasing cost of fossil fuel. EVs support a variety of apps because they house powerful processors and allow for increased connectivity. This makes them an attractive target of stealthy cryptomining malware. Recent incidents demonstrate that both the EV and its communication model are vulnerable to cryptojacking attacks. The goal of this research is to explore the extent to which cryptojacking impacts EVs in terms of recharging and cost. We assert that while cryptojacking provides a financial advantage to attackers, it can severely degrade efficiency and cause battery loss. In this paper we present a simulation model for connected EVs, the cryptomining software, and the road infrastructure. A novel framework is proposed that incorporates these models and allows an objective quantification of the extent of this economic damage and the advantage to the attacker. Our results indicate that batteries of infected cars drain more quickly than those of normal cars, forcing them to return more frequently to the charging station for a recharge. When just 10% of EVs are infected we observed 70.6% more refueling requests. Moreover, if the hacker infects a charging station then he can make a USD 436.4 profit per day from just 32 infected EVs. Overall, our results demonstrate that cryptojackers injected into EVs indirectly provide a financial advantage to the charging stations at the cost of an increased energy strain on society.

Emerging Cybersecurity and Privacy Threats to Electric Vehicles and Their Impact on Human and Environmental Sustainability

“…Researchers have also demonstrated how an attacker may cryptojack someone else's EV resources to mine for cryptocurrency [9]. An attacker can even hijack an entire fleet of EVs simultaneously for cryptojacking.…”

“…and privacy concerns are increasing with the embedded sensors that collect information such as personal identifiable information (PII), financial, health, charging logs, driving habits, video, location coordinates, and car-related data [8]. There are also many potential cyber threats to vehicular technology, such as third-party application libraries, identity thefts, private data breaches, cryptojackings [9], and ransomware [10]. Due to these threats, the confidentiality and privacy of user data is at continued risk [11].…”

On Detecting Cryptojacking on Websites: Revisiting the Use of Classifiers

“…Another use case of these advanced techniques was presented in MikroTik routers between July and August of the year 2018, where a cryptojacking campaign managed to compromise more than 200,000 MikroTik routers; these routers were primarily located in Brazil; in the same way, researchers observed that routers that were not MikroTik were also compromised [ 26 ]. Moreover, a recent study explores cryptojacking and its impact on Electric Vehicles [ 27 ].…”