Poisoned CCleaner search results spread information-stealing malware

Malware that steals your passwords, credit cards, and crypto wallets is being promoted through search results for a pirated copy of the CCleaner Pro Windows optimization program.

This new malware distribution campaign is dubbed “FakeCrack,” and was discovered by analysts at Avast, who report detecting an average of 10,000 infection attempts every day from its customer telemetry data.
Most of these victims are based in France, Brazil, Indonesia, and India.

The malware distributed in this campaign is a powerful information stealer that can harvest personal data and cryptocurrency assets and route internet traffic through data-snatching proxies.

A Black Hat SEO campaign

The threat actors follow Black Hat SEO techniques to rank their malware-distribution websites high in Google Search results so that more people will be tricked into downloading laced executables.

The lure seen by Avast is a cracked version of CCleaner Professional, a popular Windows system cleaner and performance optimizer that is still considered a “must-have” utility by many users.

The poisoned search results take the victim through several websites that ultimately display a landing page offering a ZIP file download.
This landing page is commonly hosted on a legitimate file hosting platform like filesend.jp or mediafire.com.



Source and full report:
https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/ne...-results-spread-information-stealing-malware/

 

Just another reason to stay away from CCleaner.

 

Actually, searching for a pirated copy of any software, not just CCleaner, can lead to disaster.
Use a free version, if available, or if you really like the program, spend the money for the paid version.

 

Searching for crack copies and codes will ultimately lead to trouble.