Nasty malware stealing Amazon, Facebook and Google passwords — protect yourself now

(Image credit: Gerd Altmann from Pixabay)

We at Tom'southward Guide have tried to stress over the years that if yous want software, y'all should but buy information technology. It'due south a lot cheaper than having all of your online credentials stolen.

A new piece of malware called CopperStealer is lurking in "cracked" software downloads available on pirated-content sites, and the malware can compromise your login info for Amazon, Apple, Facebook and Google, among other services.

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This information comes courtesy of Proofpoint, a security firm based in Sunnyvale, California. In a blog post yesterday (March 19), Proofpoint employees detailed their investigation of CopperStealer, including how it's distributed and what it does.

Notably, CopperStealer runs on the same basic principles as SilentFade, a pernicious piece of malware that ravaged Facebook accounts dorsum in 2019.

Get-go things kickoff: If you don't want CopperStealer to infect your calculator, don't download items from cracked software or keygen sites. That's really all you have to do.

CopperStealer appears to be targeting people exclusively through popular keygen or software-nifty download sites, and then there'south no run a risk to users who buy their software through legitimate (or even gray-market) means.

If you're one of the unfortunate thieves who got stuck with CopperStealer, at that place is still hope. CopperStealer is not peculiarly sophisticated malware and any of the best antivirus programs will make short work of it.

You will take to change pretty much all of your online passwords, however, particularly if you tend to reuse passwords on multiple sites.

Tom'southward Guide besides recommends activating two-factor hallmark (2FA) for whatsoever online account that offers the selection. While a very dedicated cybercriminal can work around this, 2FA at least gives you a 2d line of defense if someone steals your password. That should give you enough time to alter it before things get really bad.

How CopperStealer works

Here's how CopperStealer works. Kickoff, a cash-strapped user visits a prominent cracked-software or keygen site. And then he or she tries to download a piece of cracked software or a keygen programme.

("Keygen" is short for "key generation." Nearly legitimate paid software requires a product primal to run. If you tin create a disarming fake central, information technology's often as good every bit the real thing.)

Instead of (or in addition to) Windows 10 or Photoshop, even so, they'll find themselves saddled with CopperStealer — non that they'd necessarily know information technology.

The program runs in the background and combs through your web browsers for login information and user access tokens. CopperStealer can target Chrome, Border, Yandex, Opera and Firefox, although Safari doesn't appear to be a potential target.

Proofpoint did not provide an exhaustive list of login information that CopperStealer can discover. Withal, accounts for Apple tree, Amazon, Bing, Google, PayPal, Tumblr and Twitter are all at risk, as well equally Facebook.

Since virtually of these services take payment options, it would not have a particularly enterprising criminal to steal credit-menu information, or at least make a few unauthorized purchases. (All also have 2FA options to protect your account even if your password is stolen.)

CopperStealer has one boosted nasty pull a fast one on upward its sleeve — a "downloader" function to install additional malware without the user's noesis. The usual choices would include keyloggers, ransomware, viruses and programs that tin typhoon your PC into a cryptocurrency-mining botnet.

The good news is that Proofpoint has collaborated with Cloudflare, a company that provides network and security services to hundreds of major websites, to disrupt the flow of CopperStealer malware.

But we wouldn't get too comfortable on cracked software sites in the concurrently. Security firms and cybercriminals are in a constant arms race, and the next ubiquitous malware distribution method is probably right around the corner.

Marshall Honorof is a senior editor for Tom'southward Guide, overseeing the site's coverage of gaming hardware and software. He comes from a science writing groundwork, having studied paleomammalogy, biological anthropology, and the history of science and engineering. After hours, you can find him practicing taekwondo or doing deep dives on classic sci-fi.

Source: https://www.tomsguide.com/news/cracked-software-copperstealer-malware

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Nasty malware stealing Amazon, Facebook and Google passwords — protect yourself now