Topic: Avoid Malwares and Clipboard viruses (Read 198 times)

These two must come along all together. And that's because there are a lot of fake websites that copy legitimate wallets like Electrum. Their targets are not us but the newbies who have just learned what wallet they should download. So, always verify what we're always saying whether it's a wallet, or some software related to crypto or not. Everyone needs to practice verification first before downloading any wallet from whoever is the resource for the software, wallet or any kind of app that will be downloaded.

Clipboard Hijacker or as you have written virusesis not really something new.
I already have written back in 2018 about that in an Topic here : Clipboard Hijacker Malware Monitors 2.3 Million Bitcoin Addresses

With the access to your Keys and seeds its true but also not , because a lot people store them on there PC via an txt file or a other file.
The todays created Malwares mostly searching directly for exactly this files or files that have password protection.
Its literally just a time of sec or min when someone has there stuff on the pc to get the file cracked from the Malware.

Feel free to look around my other Topics about Malware and things.

Didn't you see the registration date for this Little ? As always, yesterday's inexperienced newbie starts his tutorials, constantly receiving corrections. The topic is so trite that once there was a request to create a new section so that everything related to the subject of security would be visible—unsuccessful fishing for the OP.

https://bitcointalksearch.org/topic/m.61717956

This topic is not only about wallet which can make what you said to be very valid. It is about how to avoid malware and online attacks generally. You can see wallets like Electrum and some others have PGP signature for verification but not all apps that we are downloading that have it. I just want to be more real about this. I am sure that most apps that we are downloading do not have PGP for verification.

We have Little Mouse, now we have Little Lily. Do we have a list of Little xxxx?
Haven't we read similar topic many times in this same board?

Verify, don't trust even you download from the official website because any website can be hacked. Although, there isno way to know that a website is hacked and spreads phishing links, you can verify signature of developer. PGP key can be compromised too in worst case like Lukedash Jr many months ago.

But chance for successfully hack, compromise many things at the same time is smaller than compromise only one place.

You should ensure that the source of the download is the official website of the application you want to install. If you don't follow the official source you can easily download a phishing app or malware into your device.

You should also ensure that the source codes are updated regularly. Some apps have stopped updating their codes but market themselves to be open source.

Your device may not malfunction before hackers have access to your wallet or your seed phrase. The coins would have been stolen before the person will know that something went wrong. But about using airgapped device for wallet which is a cold wallet, it is one of the best way to be certain that you did everything right in a way your device does not have malware.

Thanks I'll do some more findings on malwares and viruses to get a clearer view. Anyways I hope this tread comes useful and send a nice message on security.

I never said to totally trust GITHUB. My point simply was it's safer to download and use softwares from authentic sources like GITHUB. I may have not differentiated malwares from virus properly in the post, but I recommended GitHub since most of the scripts there are open source , so you can easily do your checkings to be on a safer side.  And of course like you mentioned, being careful is very important no matter what source we use.

Infact I'll edit. The post with that. Thanks

If your system is affected by virus, the first attack is to lay hold on your device and everything concerning it begin to malfunction, including it operations and software, then it may proceeds further base on the kind of attack to affect the clipboard if care is not taken and this is when you make a copy and paste, some bitcoin users will frankly tells you that they have to depend in making use of their bitcoin wallet on an airgapped device in other to avoid any related attempt like this.

I was going to say this earlier, but got busy. Just because a software backend code was uploaded on Github doesn't guarantee it's authenticity. We also have bad software over there too. We shouldn't be fooled by developers who upload their software there claiming that it's legit or something.  But in all, nice topic @ op. Truly, malwares are something that everyone should be aware of, not just on the crypto space but on other financial markets. Your funds can be stolen through accessing your keyboards. So avoid installation of third-party softwares.

I don't know what is in your Github link but recommend Github is an authentic source without risk of viruses, malwares, it's untrue.

If you apply it for your own practice, you will download many things from Github includes bad ones and your devices will be infected. With Github or other sources, think twice or even more, before you click on download anything.

Security and Privacy Encylopedia

As a newbie, you don't need to go far to teach other newbies with bad advice because you don't have enough knowledge on it. Newbies can be safe if they don't read your bad advice. If they read your bad advice and apply it, they are more unsafe practically.

Good topic.

Virus and malware are not exactly the same thing. But antivirus companies make this confusing.

Virus can not steal from your device or wallet but it can make the work of your device slow and also not make it functional properly and making it not usable until your format the device. Out of all the existing malware, virus is about 16% of it.

The most common malware is Trojan horse which can also be called Trojan. Out of all the malware, Trojan is responsible for around $65%. Trojan can used to obtain information from your device.

There are other malware like Rootkit. And other ones like adware, spyware, clipboard malware. Also are some others like DDOS and cryptojacking and some others. Many of these malware can be combined.

So recently I've been reading about maintaining security of ones bitcoin's. Infact from my understanding so far I have been able to deduce that SECURITY and PRIVACY is the first and most important thing when it comes to crypto currencies and the internet at large.
While reading on security I gradually drifted to more on malwares, of which I got to understand several ways people's bitcoins have been stolen. One which caught my attention the most was clipboard viruses and keyboard spying malwares.

These malwares are used to spy and track people's actions on their devices and keyboard .These malwares are dangerous because if you come to think about it literally almost everything you do on you device is via your keyboard. Where the biggest risk and vulnerability comes to play is when a bitcoiner who his device is infected by the malware tries to send some bitcoins to an address.

Literally no one memorizes addresses and retype  when they want to send bitcoins rather they just copy and paste since it's easier and less vulnerable to mistakes, unfortunately that's where the malware takes an upper hand.

Most wallets have masking codes that conceals certain important things like when you type PINs, passwords, seed phrases private keys etc. since most times the malware can't access you keys or seed because of encryption, the hackers them take advantage of you transaction by changing the address which you initially copied to thiers and then you fall for sending them your coins.

TIPS TO AVOID FALLING FOR THESE VIRUSES

• Avoid making use of external keyboards from third parties especially as a default keyboard
  
  
• If possible switch to an open source operating system it's safer and transparent
  
  
• Always review you app permissions and avoid apps that ask for heavy permissions. By heavy I mean administrative permissions
  
  
• Make use of open source wallets like ELECTRUM in the case of bitcoin. Unfortunately altcoins rarely have open source wallets
  
  
• Download your softwares and scripts from the authentic sources. I recommend GitHub.
   
• Review addressees you copied before broadcasting a transaction. To do this you can memorize the last 5 or 6 characters of the address before pressing send.
  
  
• Lastly always stay updated and careful at all times. Infact Don't trust any source or software 100%