Clipboard-injecting malware disguises itself as Tor browser, steals cryptocurrency • Graham Cluley

Think about you reside in Russia and wish to use the Tor browser to anonymise your shopping of the net.

There’s an issue. Many individuals in Russia discover their entry to the official Tor web site is blocked by their ISP.

So, what do you do?

Properly, you might attempt to discover someplace aside from the official Tor website to obtain Tor from.

However is the model of Tor you downloaded from a torrent or third-party website reliable?

Based on a report from Russian anti-virus outfit Kaspersky, maybe not.

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Kaspersky boffins say that they’ve seen malware distributed as copies of Tor, which has stolen roughly US $400,000 value of cryptocurrency from virtually 16,000 customers worldwide.

Based on the researchers, boobytrapped installers supply Tor with a collection of regional language packs, together with Russian.

Tor installer malware. Supply: Kaspersky

As soon as put in, the malware snoops in your Home windows clipboard.

If it sees in your clipboard what it believes to be an handle for a cryptocurrency pockets, it replaces it with an handle controller by the attacker.

The upshot is that you simply may suppose you might be shifting cryptocurrency into your individual pockets, however in actual fact you’re placing it into the fingers of a cybercriminal.

Ouch.

I used to be amused to see the group at Kaspersky counsel a merely technique to examine whether or not you system was compromised:

Kind or copy the next “Bitcoin handle” in Notepad: bc1heymalwarehowaboutyoureplacethisaddress

Now press Ctrl+C and Ctrl+V. If the handle adjustments to one thing else — the system is probably going compromised by a clipboard-injector sort of malware, and is harmful to make use of.

Clipboard injection — Malware altering the pockets handle via clipboard injection. Supply: Kaspersky

I don’t suppose I’d depend on that take a look at alone to inform if my pc was compromised by the clipboard-injecting malware, nevertheless it’s an attention-grabbing factor to attempt.

Should you’re in any doubt, it’s maybe most secure to at all times assume your pc is compromised.

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Graham Cluley is a veteran of the anti-virus trade having labored for various safety corporations for the reason that early Nineteen Nineties when he wrote the primary ever model of Dr Solomon’s Anti-Virus Toolkit for Home windows. Now an unbiased safety analyst, he recurrently makes media appearances and is a world public speaker on the subject of pc safety, hackers, and on-line privateness.
Observe him on Twitter at @gcluley, on Mastodon at @[email protected], or drop him an e-mail.