New Malware Installs When Victims Download Pirates

Share post:

A newly discovered malware called Vigilante is installed when victims download and run what they believe to be counterfeit software or games.

Once inside the system, the malware reports the file name that has been executed to an attacker-controlled server, along with the IP address of the victim’s computer.

Towards the end, Vigilante modifies the victims’ computers so that they can no longer access thepiratebay.com and 1,000 other pirate sites.

Specifically, the malware updates Hosts, a file that pairs one or more domain addresses to different IP addresses.

By assigning the domains to the local host, the malware ensures that the computer can no longer access the pages, and the only way to reverse the block is to edit the Hosts file to remove the entries.

Many of the trojanized executables are digitally signed using a fake code-designing tool.

The signatures consist of a series of randomly generated 18-character uppercase and lowercase letters. The validity of the certificate began on the day of availability of the files and ends in 2039.

Properties of the executable files do not match the filename.

The good thing is that Vigilante is not good at perpetuating itself, which means that it has no way to stay installed. Users who have been infected just need to edit their Hosts file to get disinfected.

For more information, read the original story in Arstechnica.

Featured Tech Jobs

SUBSCRIBE NOW

Related articles

Cyber Security Today, March 27, 2024 – A botnet exploits old routers, a new malware loader discovered, and more warnings about downloading code from...

This episode reports on a new network of 40,000 infected small and home office routers and other devices that are part of a criminal botnet

Cyber Security Today, March 25, 2024 – A suspected China threat actor going after unpatched F5 and ScreenConnet installations

This episode reports on a new campaign stealing email passwords ,the latest data breaches

A hacker’s view of the civic infrastructure: Hashtag Trending, the Weekend Edition for March 23rd, 2024

What does the civic infrastructure look like through the eyes of a hacker? The legendary general Sun Tzu in the Art of War said that in order to defeat your enemy, you must first understand your enemy. How do you do this? He said, “to know your enemy, you must become your enemy.” If we

Cyber Security Today, Week in Review for week ending Friday, March 22, 2024

This episode features discussion on lessons learned from the ransomware attack on the British Library, advice for managing expectations of IT/security teams, why firms are leaving Google Firebase unprotecte

Become a member

New, Relevant Tech Stories. Our article selection is done by industry professionals. Our writers summarize them to give you the key takeaways