Compute abuse is the unauthorized use of another person’s or organization’s processing resources for someone else’s benefit. It can involve using servers, cloud instances, GPUs, or shared research computers without permission or beyond the scope of authorized work.
In cyber security, this matters because excessive or unauthorized workloads can reduce capacity for legitimate users, increase electricity and cooling costs, and disrupt service. Cryptocurrency mining is one example: an attacker may run mining software on compromised or misused systems. Defenders can look for unusual job duration, sustained CPU or GPU use, unexpected processes, and account activity that does not match normal work. These indicators warrant investigation but do not, by themselves, prove abuse.