- Illegal Ethereum farm caused airport disruption
- one person arrested, more suspected
Airports, airlines, and their staff have been hit incredibly hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. The outbreak has seen passenger traffic drop by 80%+ and cost airports millions of dollars in lost revenue. Under those conditions, it’s not surprising that at least one airport employee has turned to cryptocurrency mining to bolster their flagging income. However, an illegal Ethereum mine operated in secrecy at his workplace was undoubtedly not the way to start that business venture.
The miner – who has yet to be named – was employed by the airport management company Sacal SpA, at Lamezia Terme International Airport. He allegedly infected the Airport’s computer mainframe with cryptocurrency mining malware, causing havoc across the airport and compromising its security. It is currently unknown whether he acted alone or with accomplices. After being caught red-handed on CCTV tending to a stealth-farm comprised of five powerful mining rigs, Italian Border police and airport security made a swift arrest and are now working to find whether this was an isolated incident. Airport officials are hoping for the latter outcome. They claim that the mining operation has cost them “Thousands of Euros” already.
Ethereum mine proves costly
It is currently unknown how long the stealth-farm was running for or how much Ethereum was earned from the scheme, but the disruption it caused for a business already struggling to tread water in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic has proven costly. Lamezia Terme International Airport management will now have to upgrade the security systems to ensure this never happens again – costing them valuable time and money.
This story comes just hours after police arrested a Hungarian politician for siphoning office power to fuel a Bitcoin farm situated at his home.
