Kaspersky: Hackers blackmail YouTubers for promoting crypto mining Trojans

PANews reported on March 12 that according to Decrypt, cybersecurity company Kaspersky (Kaspersky) found that hackers used copyright complaints to threaten YouTube content creators, forcing them to add the crypto mining 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, etc., and controls botnets through the Bitcoin blockchain.

The hackers' main target was YouTubers who provided tutorials on installing Windows Packet Divert drivers, who first launched fake copyright complaints about the videos and then contacted the creators claiming to be the developers of the drivers and asked them to add malicious links. A YouTuber with 60,000 followers is known to have been victimised, causing more than 40,000 to download infected files, and Kaspersky estimates that at least 2,000 devices have been infected.

Kaspersky security researcher Leonid Bezvershenko warned that hackers are exploiting the trust between YouTubers and their audience, and that 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 cryptomining Trojans.