Microsoft Warns That Hackers Drop Dangerous Malware Via Pirated Movies

With most of the countries stopped and quarantined, the consumption of the internet has really skyrocketed and is at unprecedented levels. But, the fact is that the operators already reacted to this and stated that it is normal and even expected.

These figures simply indicated that this growth was occurred due to the heavy use of streaming services like Netflix, Amazon Prime, Vodafone Play, YouTube, and much more. But, apart from this, The truth is quite different, and it is now known that the deadly COVID-19 pandemic is simply triggering the downloads of Torrents globally.

Yes, during this pandemic, along with the streaming services, all the pirated movie downloading sites have seen a considerable boost in popularity, and mainly because many users are forced to isolate and are looking for alternative methods to access new digital content simply stay entertained as we told earlier. 

But, recently, the tech giant Microsoft warns that there are cybercriminals who are simply taking advantage of this situation to spread malware over the known movie torrent sites, through which they can easily infect the users’ systems through activities considered “normal.”

Here’s what the security team at Microsoft Security Intelligence has stated, “With lockdown still in place in many parts of the world, attackers are paying attention to the increase in the use of pirate streaming services and torrent downloads. We saw an active coin miner campaign that inserts a malicious VBScript into ZIP files posing as movie downloads so that they can use it to execute malicious content on the systems.”

Fake Movies Dropping Cryptocurrency Miners into Memory

The data is clear and does not surprise most users. As with more and more people at home, all work and fun now simply depend on the internet. But, in most cases, the criminals simply seek ways to infect the victims’ systems with cryptocurrency miners, which remains hidden in VBS files and are veiled by popular movie titles.

“The campaign, primarily observed in Spain but has also shown up in some South American countries as well, aims to launch a coin-mining shellcode directly in memory. We’re seeing the campaign affecting a wide range of customers, from home users to enterprises,” stated the Microsoft Security Intelligence team.

Users simply get fooled by the attacker with these types of tactics, and they simply think that they are playing a movie, but, in reality, they are compromising their system. The campaign for this malware seems to affect primarily users in Spain and some South American countries, from home users to enterprises.

Some of the movies that were discovered with malicious content refer to popular Spanish titles like “Punales_por_la_espalda_BluRay_1080p,” “La_hija_de_un_ladron,” and “Lo-dejo-cuando-quiera.” While on the part of popular Hollywood movies, you can find “John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum, and it is delivered using file names such as “John_Wick_3_Parabellum,” and “contagio-1080p”.

Now many of you might be thinking about how to avoid being tricked by the criminals? If you really want to avoid being fooled then simply you have to stay with the legal streaming portals, like Netflix, Amazon Prime, and other popular services.

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