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Clipboard Hijacker Malware Monitors 2.3 Million Bitcoin Addresses

posted by martyb on Wednesday July 04 2018, @08:40AM   Printer-friendly
from the Only-cut-n-paste-one-half-at-a-time dept.

MrPlow writes:

Submitted via IRC for BoyceMagooglyMonkey

While cryptocurrency has seen tremendous growth over the past year, sending cryptocoins still requires users to send the coins to long and hard to remember addresses. Due to this, when sending cryptocoins, many users will simply copy the address into memory from one application and paste it into another application that they are using to send the coins.

Attackers recognize that users are copying and pasting the addresses and have created malware to take advantage of this. This type of malware, called CryptoCurrency Clipboard Hijackers, works by monitoring the Windows clipboard for cryptocurrency addresses, and if one is detected, will swap it out with an address that they control. Unless a user double-checks the address after they paste it, the sent coins will go to an address under the attackers control instead the intended recipient.

While we have covered cryptocurrency clipboard hijackers in the past and they are not new, most of the previous samples monitored for 400-600 thousand cryptocurrency addresses. This week BleepingComputer noticed a sample of this type of malware that monitors for a over 2.3 million cryptocurrency addresses!

Source: https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/clipboard-hijacker-malware-monitors-23-million-bitcoin-addresses/

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 4, Insightful) by bitstream on Wednesday July 04 2018, @09:00AM (8 children)

    by bitstream (6144) on Wednesday July 04 2018, @09:00AM (#702458) Journal

    "works by monitoring the Windows clipboard"

    Problem found..!

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 04 2018, @09:17AM (2 children)

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 04 2018, @09:17AM (#702466)

    .. am typing this on a linux where it work just as great.

    • (Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 04 2018, @10:18AM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 04 2018, @10:18AM (#702484)

      Which is the one that works? The malware, the clipboard or Linux?

    • (Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Wednesday July 04 2018, @05:20PM

      by Runaway1956 (2926) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday July 04 2018, @05:20PM (#702633) Journal

      apt-get remove windows-clipboard

  • (Score: 2) by inertnet on Wednesday July 04 2018, @10:37AM (3 children)

    by inertnet (4071) on Wednesday July 04 2018, @10:37AM (#702489) Journal

    Solution: shut down all Windows VM's before copying, or temporarily disable clipboard sharing in VirtualBox.

    • (Score: 2) by bitstream on Wednesday July 04 2018, @12:04PM (2 children)

      by bitstream (6144) on Wednesday July 04 2018, @12:04PM (#702505) Journal

      Or just don't use MS-Windows for anything important? ;-)

      As Nancy Reagan would say "Just say NO"..

      • (Score: 3, Insightful) by frojack on Wednesday July 04 2018, @03:46PM (1 child)

        by frojack (1554) on Wednesday July 04 2018, @03:46PM (#702579) Journal

        HOW is it possible today for anyone to be clueful enough to engage in bitcoin use or mining and still stupid enough to use windows for that purpose ?

        --
        No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.

        • (Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 04 2018, @05:08PM

          by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 04 2018, @05:08PM (#702622)

          Hi. Let me introduce myself. I'm a crypto currency speculator.

  • (Score: 1, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 04 2018, @02:01PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 04 2018, @02:01PM (#702540)

    To what degree does JavaScript have access to clipboard data?