Bitcoin, Dogecoins, and other cryptocurrencies have grabbed a lot of headlines for their explosive growth (and bust, and growth, and, well…).The trick is that generating this currency—"mining" it—requires an awful lot of computing power.Instead of computers, let's use lots of smartphones!Unfortunately, security company Lookout says that the math on mobile mining just doesn't add up.Mobile Mining Number CrunchThe numbers say it all.Lookout's researchers calculated that if you're mining for 24 solid hours on a Samsung Galaxy SIII, you'd only earn .00000007 Bitcoin or $0.00004473.In order to make just one Bitcoin in a day, Lookout says you'd need 14,285,714 phones working full-tilt simultaneously.Bitcoins are hugely valuable (over $600USD per Bitcoin), and therefore require huge resources to mine.But even less valuable cryptocurrency, like Litecoin, are beyond the reach of mobile miners.If you took 3,752 SIII phones and let them work for 24 hours, you'd end up with a single Litecoin which is worth a paltry $8 USD.

Malicious Miners Despite the overwhelming odds, Lookout's principal security researcher Marc Rogers told Security Watch he has seen numerous malicious Bitcoin miners targeting mobile devices.He estimated there was a new mining variant detected every month."The kind of folks who are making mobile malware are very, very inventive," he said."Every new mining system has a new feature.They're trying every direction they can to make it profitable, and that's quite fascinating."ptc paid bitcoinWhy then do malicious mobile miners persist?phoenix litecoin miningRogers  believes that the benefits of the cryptocurrency (it's free, untraceable, and so on) are simply too tempting for malware creators.bitcoin wechat groupThere's also a "cool factor" in trying to exploit this new technology.bitcoin qt block size

"Early iterations of mining malware did not seem like serious attempts to be profitable, just playing with the technology and seeing what they could do with it," said Rogers."But it's pretty clear that the later versions are deliberate attempts to be profitable."Currently, Rogers says that Lookout is seeing mobile miners trying to be more discreet in order to distribute their malware to more victims and keep infected phones mining longer.According to Lookout, instead of working your phone until smoke pours out, sophisticated malicious miners only run when connected to chargers, or when the screen is off.ethereum windows clientOf course, these kinder, gentler malicious miners can't mine nearly as much per day as more aggressive apps.litecoin purposeThere's a Better Way Of course, there are legitimate Bitcoin mining apps out there, and some developers may be tempted to include mining code in their own applications in the hope of making a little money.bitcointalk 8 bit

However, Rogers says that there is a much simpler way to turn a legitimate profit with mobile apps.Before you freak out, remember that Lookout is no friend to malicious or abusive advertising."Advertising gets a bad rap because we see ad networks that spoil your gameplay or your user experience, but there are good advertising networks out there that are responsible and careful," said Rogers."Advertising would be thousands of times more profitable for a developer than mining.litecoin equipmentThere's a reason ads have powered the mobile ecosystem."ethereum buy hong kongCase in point, the surprise mega-hit Flappy Bird reportedly earned its creator $50,000 a day in ad revenue.Mobile Mining Here to Stay Though Lookout's numbers paint a bleak picture, Rogers that we'll see more mobile mining as phones become more sophisticated."Maybe a new phone will come out with a GPU accelerator, so they'll try to use that for mining," he said.

"Every time there's a new option, we'll see people try to leverage it."But until you can fit a high-powered computer in your pocket (or a Dogecoin mining NAS), mobile mining will be remain academically interesting but financially flat.At least one employee of the U.S.Federal Reserve sees the value of bitcoin and mining for it if you get your computing power for free.Nicholas Berthaume, who is now a former employee, was sentenced to 12 months’ probation and fined $5,000 for installing unauthorized bitcoin software on a Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System server.According to a news release by the Office of Inspector General, Berthaume pleaded guilty to one count of unlawful conversion of government property.Working as a Communications Analyst, Berthaume had access to some Board computer servers.He put the computing power of a federal server to work for him.Mining is costly after all, as nowadays it tends to use more electricity than a miner earns.Unless a person has excess power from a solar farm for mining, then stealing electricity for mining is an option some people choose.

You may have heard about the three men and one woman recently arrested in Venezuela for electricity theft and internet fraud.At any rate, Berthaume chose to install “unauthorized software on a Board server to connect to an online bitcoin network in order to earn bitcoins.” He continued to mine bitcoins on the Fed’s server for over two years, from March 2012 to June 2014.OIG investigators were unable to tell how many bitcoins Berthaume earned using that server “due to the anonymity of the bitcoin network.” Berthaume didn’t offer up that information either.In fact, he at first denied having any knowledge of the bitcoin mining software.At some point during his scheme, he also “modified certain security safeguards so that he could remotely access the server from home.” But after already lying about having no knowledge of wrongdoing, Berthaume “remotely deleted the software that he had installed in an effort to conceal his actions.”Eventually forensic analysis by OIG agents and members of the Federal Reserve System's National Incident Response Team pointed the finger of blame at Berthaume.

He was fired from the Board and later admitted his guilt and cooperated in the investigation.The OIG reported that no Board information was lost due to Berthaume’s actions.The incident was enough for the Board to implement “security enhancements.”Mark Bialek, Inspector General for the Board of Governors of the Federal Reserve System, wrote: This case demonstrates how my office will vigorously pursue Board employees who unlawfully abuse their positions and use government property for personal gain.I commend our agents for their diligent work.I also thank the Board's Division of Information Technology for its cooperation and the U.S.Department of Justice's Computer Crime and Intellectual Property Section for its assistance.If you are interested in mining bitcoin, here are purportedly some tips on the best hardware, software and mining pools and operations.Here are some interesting facts learned by an off-grid miner.Join the Network World communities on Facebook and LinkedIn to comment on topics that are top of mind.