A Research Environment for Evaluating File-based Cryptojacking Detection Techniques

With the advent of blockchain technology, despite the introduction of many new solutions in the field of cybersecurity, new types of attacks have also appeared. One is cryptojacking, an attack that aims to take over the victim’s resources to mine cryptocurrencies and thus generate profits. Detecting cryptojacking is still challenging for modern antivirus systems, although many detection methods have been proposed in the literature, and their effectiveness ranges from $50 \%$ to nearly $\mathbf{9 5 \%}$. However, it is unclear if these techniques would still be successful if the cryptojackers behavior evolves. That is why, in this paper, a universal research environment is designed and implemented in which a configurable tool for simulating file-based cryptojacking is available. It can be easily integrated and expanded with new functionalities and is characterized by simplicity in testing various file cryptojacking detection tools. This allows other researchers to evaluate their solutions in a homogeneous experimental environment and compare the results with existing techniques. This work also demonstrates how the created setup can be used to evaluate the detection effectiveness of available antivirus systems and detection tools dedicated for this type of threat.