Russian Nuclear Scientists Hijacked Supercomputers For Cryptocurrency Mining

In the span of a few short years, cryptocurrency mining went from being virtually unknown to making making waves in the tech community. While mining may not have caught on with mainstream audiences yet, the entire market has been affected by the new-age gold digging. GPU prices are particularly affected, with many models costing twice as much on the market as their SRPs would suggest. Fortunately, the same price hikes have avoided CPUs, even though they can prove pretty potent in mining.

Clearly, many people want a piece of mining, including those who are in a position to take advantage of a really sweet computer -- or many computers. We're not talking malware-infected miners here, but actually having physical access to the computers you want to mine on. It just so happens that in this particular case, the computers were actually supercomputers. What could go wrong?

GPU and CPU mining on a small-time system

A lot, it appears - especially when the supercomputer you decided to use for mining isn't ever supposed to be connected to the internet. Multiple suspects decided to try their hand at using an unsuspecting supercomputer at a Russian nuclear warhead facility, and right about now you're probably beginning to understand why this computer is never meant to access the world at large.

Because internet access is such a grave offense for this supercomputer, alarms went off immediately. This means the suspects weren't able to get away with anything before being detected. It stands to reason that any supercomputer in operation today would deliver jaw-dropping hashrates, so we can understand the temptation, but it's hard to fathom how anyone would think they'd get away with it.

For their failed efforts, it looks like the suspects are now targets of a criminal investigation, though it's one that shouldn't take too long to close the book on. This is an open and shut case, like a valet deciding to take that sweet Ferrari for a quick tear around the block before running it into the back of a transport truck. Your job may have unethical perks, but some can turn into a jail or death sentence mighty quick.