New ‘BHUNT’ malware is targeting crypto wallets of Indians

For the uninitiated, digital currencies like Bitcoin, Ethereum or Dogecoin are stored in something called a 'wallet', which can be accessed using your 'private key', the cryptographic equivalent of a super secure password, without which crypto the owner cannot access the currency. Desktop wallets store private keys on your hard drive or SSD on your computer. Ideally, these are more secure than web and mobile wallets as they don't rely on third parties to get your data and are harder to steal.

It should be noted that the malware comes bundled with pirated software that is downloaded via torrentz and other malicious websites. Once the malware is installed on your PC, it can transfer users' funds to another wallet and also steal other private data residing on the infected computer. "While the malware primarily focuses on stealing information related to cryptocurrency wallets, it can also harvest passwords and cookies stored in browser caches," the Bitdefender report explains. “This could include account passwords for social media, banking, etc. that could even result in online identity theft.”

What makes this malware special is that it is heavily encrypted and packaged as digitally signed software, which means that your computer will not detect it as a form of malware. “All of our telemetry originated from home users who are most likely to have cryptocurrency wallet software installed on their systems. This target group is also more likely to install cracks for operating system software, which we suspect is the main source of infection,” the company said in its report.

This malware has been detected worldwide, with the highest concentration of infected users in India, followed by Australia, Egypt, Germany, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Norway, Singapore, South Africa, Spain, and the US.

To avoid being infected by BHUNT, the company points out that users should simply avoid downloading pirated software, cracks, and activators for illegitimate products.

Meanwhile, in early December, downloading pirated copies of 'Spider-Man: No Way Home' from torrent sites brought with it a unwanted cryptocurrency mining malware, Reason Cybersecurity researchers warned. According to the researchers, the illicit copies of the latest Spider-Man movie include a variant of malware called 'Spiderman', which has previously been disguised as popular applications such as 'Windows updater' and 'Discord app'.