New Skype malware spreading at 2,000 clicks per hour to mine Bitcoins

Malware Bitcoin-miners, hmm? I don't like Skype as a vector... what if you could put it in the browser instead? Which leads me to a less malware-y idea: write a JavaScript/Flash/similar component that mines bitcoins in a web browser. Put it on your site instead of ads. Has anyone beat me to it?

<a href="http://www.bitcoinplus.com/miner/embeddable" rel="nofollow">http://www.bitcoinplus.com/miner/embeddable</a><p>I don't see how this is any worse.

A new market for malware opens. This is even better than spam.

Evil...and yet I'm a bit disappointed it doesn't try to use the computers GPU instead of CPU.<p>(and yes I'm aware this wouldn't work in all cases).

Why does Skype even have any clickable links in it at all if Microsoft can't be bothered to keep the obvious malware out?

Is it also stealing people's local wallets too?

Does all the computing power put towards Bitcoin mining strike anyone else as an extreme waste of electricity?

A keylogger would be more lucrative than a bitcoin miner.

Re the conclusion: to protect yourself, don't run an OS that will silently install software just because you clicked on a blue link in a program published by the OS vendor.<p>Steve Ballmer should be jailed as an accessory for allowing this.