Cybersecurity firm Kaspersky: Hackers blackmail YouTuber for promoting crypto mining Trojan

Odaily Planet Daily News Cybersecurity company Kaspersky found that hackers used copyright complaints to threaten YouTube content creators, forcing them to add the crypto mining Trojan SilentCryptoMiner in the video description. The malware is based on XMRig and is used to mine cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, Monero, Ravencoin, and control botnets through the Bitcoin blockchain. The hackers' main target is YouTubers who provide Windows Packet Divert driver installation tutorials. They first filed a false copyright complaint against the video, and then contacted the creators claiming to be the developers of the driver and asked them to add malicious links. It is currently known that a YouTuber with 60,000 followers has been victimized, causing more than 40,000 people to download infected files. Kaspersky estimates that at least 2,000 devices have been infected. Kaspersky security researcher Leonid Bezvershenko warned that hackers are taking advantage of the trust between YouTubers and viewers, and such threats may spread to platforms such as Telegram. He advises users not to trust tutorials that ask them to turn off antivirus software, and to verify the source before downloading any files to prevent infection with crypto mining Trojans. (Decrypt)