‘Free’ Starbucks Wi-Fi caught mining for bitcoin
Did you know that when you’re logging into the Wi-Fi at Starbucks, you could have code installed on your laptop that is used to mine for bitcoin?
This is what recently happened to one man who stumbled across the code after joining the store’s Wi-Fi.
Hi @Starbucks @StarbucksAr did you know that your in-store wifi provider in Buenos Aires forces a 10 second delay when you first connect to the wifi so it can mine bitcoin using a customer's laptop? Feels a little off-brand.. cc @GMFlickinger pic.twitter.com/VkVVdSfUtT
— Noah Dinkin (@imnoah) December 2, 2017
The complaint was addressed by Starbucks, with the company saying the issue has since been resolved.
As soon as we were alerted of the situation in this specific store last week, we took swift action to ensure our internet provider resolved the issue and made the changes needed in order to ensure our customers could use Wi-Fi in our store safely.
— Starbucks Coffee (@Starbucks) December 11, 2017
Despite the initial concerns, a Starbucks spokesman said the problem was with the internet service provider and not with the franchise itself.
“Last week, we were alerted to the issue and we reached out to our internet service provider — the Wi-Fi is not run by Starbucks, it’s not something we own or control,” the spokesman told Motherboard.
“We want to ensure that our customers are able to search the internet over Wi-Fi securely, so we will always work closely with our service provider when something like this comes up.”
“We don’t have any concern that this is widespread across any of our stores.”
The act of bitcoin mining is becoming more common, with hackers hijacking computer processors to search for cryptocurrency not being traded on the open market.
To avoid using extremely expensive servers, hackers are putting a script on popular websites, which infects the computers of those visiting.