Cybercriminals are trying to exploit the popularity of the Marvel franchise to distribute cryptocurrency mining malware , suggests a new report.
Researchers at security firm ReasonLabs have warned that a malicious torrent file is circulating, disguised as the new movie Spider-Man: No Way Home. The torrent download infects the victim's device with malware that undermines the Monero cryptocurrency.
To avoid detection, the malware strain is able to add exclusions to Windows Defender to avoid detection. It also creates persistence and even a watchdog process to make sure it runs without interruption, ReasonLabs explained.
Taking power from the CPU
Although relatively benign from a data security standpoint, crypto mining malware absorbs a large proportion of the infected computer's memory, drastically reducing performance. Furthermore, crypto miners can also generate high electricity bills for the victim.
Cybercriminals generally opt for Monero miners, given the high level of privacy that the cryptocurrency offers.
As usual, people should be very careful when downloading content via torrents, especially content on demand, such as new movies, music or TV shows, the researchers cautioned.
At the most basic level, users should always check the file extension before running it. A movie will generally have an .mp4 extension, while music must use the .mp3 file format. Applications (including malware), on the other hand, are usually .exe files.
It's also important to note that torrenting movies is a crime in most countries around the world. To avoid being identified, users often use VPN services when downloading torrents, which is one of the reasons Russia cited latest round of VPN bans .
Via ZDNet
