Mozilla Firefox is changing its approach to anti-tracking, and will block auto-crypto-mining or cryptojacking malware in future releases of the browser as part of its new approach.
In the near future, Firefox will, by default, protect users by blocking tracking while also offering a clear set of controls to give users more choice over what information they share with sites. It can be user controlled using the Firefox Nightly Control Center menu.
Over the next few months, Mozilla plans to release a series of features that will put its new anti-tracking approach into practice through three key initiatives - improving page load performance, removing cross-site tracking, and mitigating harmful practices.
As part of mitigating harmful practices, it will block other sites that have deployed cryptomining scripts to silently mine cryptocurrencies on the user's device. The future versions of Firefox browser will block these hostile practices on the web by default.
In a study by Ghostery, 55.4 percent of the total time required to load an average website was spent loading slow-loading trackers or cross-site tracking through third-party cookies. Tracking slows down the web.
Some of the negative effects of unchecked tracking are irritating specific targeted advertising and a loss of performance on the web.
A new study by a leading international device-to-cloud cybersecurity firm McAfee Labs recently showed a whopping increase in cryptojacking and other cryptocurrency mining schemes, which has replaced ransomware as the top cyber bad dog in 2018.
In early April, Google banned all cryptocurrency mining extensions on its Chrome Web Store, citing a rise in malicious extensions and policy compliance issues. However, extensions with blockchain-related purposes other than mining continued to be permitted.
Opera, a web browser for Windows, macOS, and Linux operating systems, also added cryptocurrency mining protection way back in January for its desktop versions and mobile browsers through its ad blocker function.
For comments and feedback contact: editorial@rttnews.com
April 24, 2026 15:15 ET Economics news flow was relatively light this week even as the conflict in the Middle East continued, raising concerns for policymakers. In the U.S., spending data, initial jobless claims and pending home sales were the highlights. Business confidence in the biggest euro area economy was in focus in Europe. Inflation data from Japan gained attention in Asia.