With 2. 5 billion users worldwide, Google’s YouTube is undoubtedly the most popular video platform on the planet. And not only between valid users. I recently reported how hackers were going after YouTube creators’ accounts as part of an ongoing credential theft attack. Now, according to a recently published security study, it seems that the risk has evolved and YouTube attackers distribute fake installers through trusted hosting facilities that Scouse evades detection and in the end borrows sensitive data from the browser, adding user credentials. Here’s what you want to know.
Although the problem of YouTube accounts being attacked by attackers is new, and YouTube itself has even incorporated a new artificial intelligence robot to help affected account holders regain their access, this latest study comes with a much more damaging caveat: YouTube’s 2. 5 billion users are at risk.
In the January 10 report, Trend Micro Incident Reaction Analyst Ryan Maglaque, Risk Analyst Jay Nebre, and Associate Security Analyst Allixon Kristoffer Francisco revealed how attackers are employing YouTube and other social media platforms. as part of their campaigns to spread download links to malicious content. Fake software installers take advantage of users’ acceptance as true on those sites to generate clicks that result in the installation of credential-stealing malware on their devices. These links, to pirated videos or software, are the key to these piracy attacks.
“Victims are lured into piracy by individuals posing as guides on popular video-sharing platforms like YouTube,” the analysts explained, “these deceitful actors create a pretense of offering legitimate software installation tutorials to entice viewers to click on malicious links in the video descriptions or comments.”
The report highlights how an attacker lures victims with a YouTube video disguised as a tutorial, in this case explaining how to download a free download of pirated Adobe Lightroom software. The first comment on the video includes a link that opens another YouTube post containing the actual malicious link to download the fake installer. This link is located on a giant log hosting site valid “as another layer to further obfuscate your download and evade detection,” the report states.
These hack attacks that begin on YouTube are particularly dangerous as they employ a number of methods to maintain their stealthiness and evade detection. These include, the analysts said:
I contacted YouTube for a statement. In the meantime, I propose to consult Google’s advice on malware coverage and, of course, not the tactics for hacking valid software and getting it for free.
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