New Malware Type That Works On Windows And Linux Could Steal Crypto

A new malware type that works on all Windows, macOS, and Linux could potentially steal cryptocurrencies according to the reports by a cybersecurity company that we have in our crypto news today.

The recent report informed about a new malware type that has been active for over a year and targeted thousands of crypto users. ElectroRAT malware is written from scratch in order to work on different operating systems and promoted via a dedicated forum and marketing campaigns. The cybersecurity company Intezer launched the report describing the latest threat for crypto holders and it reads that the company discovered the operation in December 2020 but was active for a year.

The paper described the malware as a “full-fledged marketing campaign, custom cryptocurrency-related application, and a new Remote Access Tool written from scratch.”  The company admitted that it is common for the stealers of information to try and collect private keys in order to gain access to victim’s wallets but ElectroRAT has a few fundamental differences. The latest malicious operation was built from scratch in a way to target operating systems at once. These are Windows, Linux, and MacOs.

The operation was promoted as a very successful trading instrument or a tool for multiple exchange transactions on one interface. The report outlined that the attackers behind the malicious threat use a well-known blockchain in order to promote their operation including Bitcointalk and SteemCoinPan. The malicious actors had to set up fake user accounts and published fake success stories that are tempting users to browse the web page of the application. Victims were able to download the app from the external page without realizing it is actually malware.

The attackers created Telegram and Twitter accounts for “DaoPoker” applications and paid a crypto media influencer for the ads. If the victim falls for the attack and ends up installing the app on the device, the malicious attackers will get access to his personal info, private keys for crypto wallets and accounts. Once they have this data, they could execute transfers from hot wallets.

The cybersecurity company estimated that the number of victims that downloaded this malware is about 6500. There were other malicious projects as well that worked as a Google Chrome extension downloaded more than 30 million times.