Kaspersky Lab present the results of evaluating the positive economic and environmental impact of blocking web miners with Kaspersky products. The total power saving can be calculated with known accuracy using the formula <w>·N, where <w> is the average value of the increase in power consumption of the user device during web mining, and N is the number of blocked attempts according to Kaspersky Security Network (KSN) data for 2018. This figure is equal to 18.8±11.8 gigawatts (GW), which is twice the average power consumption rate of all Bitcoin miners in that same year.
To assess the amount of saved energy based on this power consumption rate, this number is multiplied by the average time that user devices spend on web mining, that is, according to the formula <w>·N·t, where t is the average time that web miners would have been working had they not been blocked by our products. Since this value cannot be obtained from Kaspersky data, we used information from open sources provided by third-party researchers, according to which the estimated amount of electricity saved by users of our products ranges from 240 to 1,670 megawatt hours (MWh).
Using the average prices for individual consumers, this amount of electricity could cost up to 200 thousand dollars for residents in North America or up to 250 thousand euros for residents in Europe.
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Source: Kaspersky Lab