Recent reports by the cybersecurity company from China, Qihoo 360 Total Security, claim that a crypto clipboard hijacker has infected more than 300,000 computers. After conducting its own analysis, however, the company called Bleeping Computer has found this number to be greater than first thought, perhaps closer to 2.3 million.
New malware that replaces addresses
Bleeping Computer issued a warning to crypto users to carefully check the address to which they are sending their digital coins, in an attempt to shore up users against this new malware, CryptoCurrency Clipboard Hijackers, which has the ability to redirect transactions.
According to Bleeping Computer’s analysis, malware runners seem to currently be monitoring over 2.3 million cryptocurrency addresses. This allows them to replace the real address with the one they control, leading to direct theft of the cryptos that regular users are sending and receiving.
As crypto trade grows, security becomes an increasing area for concern and, if users are not fully aware of the risks, hackers can make quite a profit from their transactions.
According to the Bleeping Computer’s creator, and computer forensic specialist, Lawrence Abrahams, this malware monitors the Windows clipboard in search of crypto addresses. When it finds one, it replaces it with the address belonging to the hacker that sent the malware. That way, when an unsuspecting crypto holder copies the address, the hacker receives all the funds.
Bleeping Computer continues to add that the malware is stealthy, continuing to run in the background at all times, without alerting the user or showing any signs of its presence. This makes it difficult to detect and users remain unaware that their devices have been compromised.
Watch out for scams and unsafe exchanges
Because of this, it is important for everyone to have a strong, capable antivirus to protect their devices from this and similar threats. Additionally, crypto holders need to double check the address to which they are sending their payments.
Abrahams continued that this malware is part of a larger scam called All-Radio 4.27 Portable malware package. So far, the malware has only had minor success in scamming users and it still is not as dangerous as the fake giveaways that have recently plagued Twitter.
These scams were responsible for stealing over 8,000 ETH coins, which translates to more than $4 million in total.