There are so many hackers who want to steal your money. That is why we can read about new phishing methods, cryptojacking, juice jacking, and so much more every day. One of the most recent on the market is named PennyWise and instead of giving you some extra pennies, you risk losing the pennies you already have.
What is this all about? How does it work? The method is the same. To become a victim, you first need to do something stupid… that is, to download and install some program. But, why would you do that?
This malware is spreading on YouTube. You can watch videos on how to earn money with cryptocurrencies through mining. You are then recommended to download an additional program for this to start. Some videos even recommend you disable your antivirus protection for the program to be installed. If you follow the instructions, you have installed a program on your device that will make the hacker able to access your system and steal information about your browser, including cryptocurrency extension data and login data. It can also take screenshots and steal sessions of chat applications such as Discord and Telegram
This makes you vulnerable and your cryptocurrencies might be in danger.
How to avoid the PennyWise crypto-malware?
It is actually quite simple. Install an antivirus program and keep it running. Do not turn it off!
Then comes the most important… do not download and install any program, even though some YouTube vlogger or some blog might tell you to do so. Only install programs from safe sources. Do not click links at all that you do not trust 100%.
If you do this, you will be safe. But, if you want to add an additional layer of security, a brilliant thing to do is to have a computer set aside for cryptocurrency transactions. As a result, you will never install any additional program on that computer, except for your antivirus program, a malware scanner, and maybe a VPN. Besides that, no games, no programs… nothing at all. If you even make it a Linux computer, you get an additional layer of security as well, knowing that most viruses and phishing tools are created for Windows and not for Linux.
Take care of yourself and your cryptocurrencies!
