Kaspersky: Hackers blackmail YouTubers to promote cryptomining Trojans
PANews On March 12, according to Decrypt, cybersecurity company Kaspersky (Kaspersky) found that hackers used copyright complaints to threaten YouTube content creators, forcing them to add the cryptomining Trojan SilentCryptoMiner to the video description. The malware is based on XMRig and is used to mine cryptocurrencies such as Ethereum, Ethereum Classic, Monero, Ravencoin, and control the botnet through the Bitcoin blockchain.
The main target of the hackers was YouTubers who provided tutorials on installing the Windows Packet Divert driver, who filed a fake copyright complaint about the video and then contacted the creator claiming to be the developer of the driver and asked him to add a malicious link. A YouTuber with 60,000 followers is known to have been victimized, resulting in more than 40,000 downloads of infected files, and Kaspersky estimates that at least 2,000 devices have been infected.
Kaspersky security researcher Leonid Bezvershenko warned that hackers are exploiting trust between YouTubers and their viewers, and that such threats could spread to platforms such as Telegram. He advises users not to believe tutorials that ask them to close their antivirus software, and to verify the source before downloading any files to prevent infection with cryptomining Trojans.