Last week Comparitech, a UK-based consumer website that provides reviews and research about technology services, published its annual report on the most and least cyber secure countries around the world. The study found that four Central Asian countries, including Kazakhstan and Uzbekistan, are among the 15 least secure, with Tajikistan ranking as the worst.

The same four countries, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan and Kyrgyzstan also topped the list of those with the highest percentage of attacks from cryptominers. 

Cryptocurrency mining is an energy intensive operation which uses the processing power of computers to create and verify cryptocurrencies. The so-called “cryptojackers” typically use software to take over one or more vulnerable computers and use their resources to mine cryptocurrency without permission. Attackers can mine cryptocurrencies this way without paying for electricity or hardware.

Cryptojacking can affect computers in a number of ways. “If your device is infected with a crypto miner, it's going to slow down your computer. It's going to slow down your internet speed and it also is usually indicative of some other security problem,” said Paul Bischoff, a consumer privacy expert and editor at Comparitech.