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 searching 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 may attempt to discover someplace apart from the official Tor web site to obtain Tor from.

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

In response to 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.

In response to the researchers, boobytrapped installers provide Tor with a choice of regional language packs, together with Russian.

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 tackle for a cryptocurrency pockets, it replaces it with an tackle controller by the attacker.

The upshot is that you just may suppose you’re transferring cryptocurrency into your personal pockets, however in actual fact you’re placing it into the palms of a cybercriminal.

Ouch.

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

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

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

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

For those who’re in any doubt, it’s maybe most secure to all the time assume your pc is compromised.

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