Up to a 300% spike in YouTube videos with malware links
Cybersecurity researchers said Monday that they’ve seen a massive 200-300 percent spike in YouTube videos containing links to malware that can steal sensitive financial data from computers.
YouTube is a popular platform with more than 2.5 billion active monthly users, making it an easy target for threat actors, said AI cybersecurity firm CloudSEK.
These malware, called Infostealers, spread through malicious downloads, fake websites and YouTube tutorials, infiltrate systems and steal data that is uploaded to the attacker’s command and control server.
“In a worrying trend, these threat actors are now using AI-generated videos to expand their reach, and YouTube has become a convenient platform for their distribution,” said CloudSEK researcher Pavan Karthick.
The study showed that 5-10 crack download videos containing malicious links are uploaded to YouTube every hour.
The videos contain deceptive tactics that mislead users into downloading malware, making it challenging for the YouTube algorithm to identify and remove them.
Researchers discovered malware such as Vidar, RedLine and Raccoon stealing YouTube videos from November 2022. They can steal passwords, credit card information, bank account numbers and other confidential information.
According to the report, these videos appear to be tutorials on how to download cracked versions of licensed software such as Adobe Photoshop, Premiere Pro, Autodesk 3ds Max, AutoCAD and others that are only available to paid users.
Threat actors also add fake comments to give the video legitimacy.
“These comments trick users into believing the malware is legitimate. Additionally, using AI-generated videos featuring more familiar and trusted individuals is a growing trend among threat actors,” the report states.
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