The rise of crypto scams have been a plague on the industry. With billions lost to exploits and phishing attacks just this year, attacks are getting craftier despite the bear market.
The latest iteration, however, takes the cake.
While not a scam per se, Checkpoint Research, which fights and educates against cyber threats, recently detected a malware campaign, disguised as legitimate applications.
Linked to a Turkish speaking entity, it dropped malware from free software downloads that were available across many popular sites.
Furthermore, the results for some weblinks are at the top of google search results, and still remain there at the time of writing.
“Google has not released an official desktop version, making the attackers’ version very appealing“
While the application itself is actually useful, it installs malware in your computer after a 5 day delay. This would install a miner for popular privacy token Monero ($XMR).
To date, more than 112,000 PCs have been infected with the malware across 11 different countries.
New Day, New Virus
While this latest attack vector does not directly steal your cryptocurrency, its potential is worrying.
Just this year, we have seen billions lost to exploits, phishing attacks, and outright scams.
In fact, the double-edged sword of decentralization means that bot individuals and institutions are constantly prone to exploits.
Even in Web2, zero-day attacks have shown how the oldest and most trusted lines of code can eventually show cracks.
Also read: Hot Vs. Cold Wallets: Key Differences, And Why It’s Important To Own A Cold Wallet
[Editor’s Note: This article does not represent financial advice. Please do your own research before investing.]
Featured Image Credit: Chain Debrief
