Hey everyone, reaching out because I’m seeing some really weird behavior on about 15 of our field tablets (Android). They’re usually solid for a full shift, but lately, they’re hitting 10% battery in like 3 hours and getting physically hot to the touch even when the screen is off.
I checked the data usage, and it is spiking on some random browser processes. Could this be cryptojacking? I thought that was mostly a desktop/server issue, but I’m starting to get paranoid. Anyone else seeing this?
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@mees, honestly, it sounds exactly like it. I had a similar headache last month. We found a “free” Pdf converter app some users had side-loaded that was running a Monero miner in the background.
The heat is the giveaway. If the Cpu is pegged at 100% for no reason, someone is definitely making money off your electricity. Check your running services for anything using “WebView” or high CPU usage when the device is supposed to be idle.
If it is happening in the browser, it might not even be a rogue app. It could be a script running on a site they are visiting. We had a guy who would leave a streaming site open in a background tab, and the site was basically hijacking his processor to mine crypto.
I would suggest checking if your UEM can blacklist specific URLs or if you can force a browser extension that blocks “coinhive” or similar scripts. Also, check if those 15 devices are all using the same specific app or version. Good luck, it is a total pain to track down!
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