Hackers Used Thousands of YouTube Videos To Spread Malware
(Friday October 24, 2025 @05:22PM (msmash)
from the cracked-and-hacked dept.)
- Reference: 0179864074
- News link: https://news.slashdot.org/story/25/10/24/1814214/hackers-used-thousands-of-youtube-videos-to-spread-malware
- Source link:
Hackers have been spreading malware through more than 3,000 YouTube videos advertising cracked software and game hacks, cybersecurity firm Check Point [1]warned this week . The campaign, active since at least 2021, tripled its video production in 2025. The videos promoted free versions of Adobe Photoshop, FL Studio, Microsoft Office, and game cheats for titles like Roblox. Fake comments created the appearance of legitimacy, the researchers found.
Users who downloaded archives from Dropbox, Google Drive, or MediaFire were instructed to disable Windows Defender before opening files. The downloads contained malware including Lumma and Rhadamanthys, which steal passwords and cryptocurrency wallet information. The hackers hijacked existing accounts and created new ones. One compromised channel with 129,000 subscribers posted a cracked Photoshop video that reached 291,000 views. Another video for FL Studio received over 147,000 views.
[1] https://blog.checkpoint.com/research/the-youtube-ghost-network-how-check-point-research-helped-take-down-3000-malicious-videos-spreading-malware/
Users who downloaded archives from Dropbox, Google Drive, or MediaFire were instructed to disable Windows Defender before opening files. The downloads contained malware including Lumma and Rhadamanthys, which steal passwords and cryptocurrency wallet information. The hackers hijacked existing accounts and created new ones. One compromised channel with 129,000 subscribers posted a cracked Photoshop video that reached 291,000 views. Another video for FL Studio received over 147,000 views.
[1] https://blog.checkpoint.com/research/the-youtube-ghost-network-how-check-point-research-helped-take-down-3000-malicious-videos-spreading-malware/
Good for them (Score:1)
by smooth wombat ( 796938 )
The hackers I mean. Stealing has consequences.
crypto wallets? (Score:2)
by diffract ( 7165501 )
Who is dumb enough to use cracked software on the same computer they run their crypto wallets?
News at 11... (Score:5, Funny)
Is this a shocker to Gen Z or something because older folks are well aware that virtually all unofficial files which don't come from an official or trusted source are malware. How do you think we survived in a world where 99% of the material on our systems came from pirate bay?
Re: (Score:1)
It's like it's 1999 all over again.
Re:News at 11... (Score:4)
There will never be a shortage of stupid people.
Generally speaking, a con artist's easiest mark is someone who thinks he is scamming the con artist. The same principle applies here: a criminal's easiest target is someone who thinks they are about profit by breaking the law.
Re: (Score:2)
That's why some of my favorite videos on the internet are the scam baiters who screw over the scammers. Watching one of those scumbags get duped into installing some kind of malware on their own system or even the entire call center's network because they think they're about to hit pay dirt never gets old.
Re: (Score:2)
They also consistently demonstrate massively worse blind spots around false communities. The blind faith towards "person from Discord / reddit" is truly extreme.
Part of it looks like the general social dysfunction from social media overexposure - conflating acquaintances with friendship and such. Hustle culture plays in, as integrity is just something for old people and "not the way the world works". Then they rage at companies and CEOs like they're personal friends beholden to conform to their worldview a