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Chinese 'Fireball' Malware Infects Nearly 250 Million Computers Worldwide (thehackernews.com)
Check Point researchers have discovered a massive malware campaign, dubbed Fireball, that has already infected more than 250 million computers across the world, including Windows and Mac OS. The Fireball malware "is an adware package that takes complete control of victim's web browsers and turns them into zombies, potentially allowing attackers to spy on victim's web traffic and potentially steal their data," reports The Hacker News. From the report: Check Point researchers, who discovered this massive malware campaign, linked the operation to Rafotech, a Chinese company which claims to offer digital marketing and game apps to 300 million customers. While the company is currently using Fireball for generating revenue by injecting advertisements onto the browsers, the malware can be quickly turned into a massive destroyer to cause a significant cyber security incident worldwide. Fireball comes bundled with other free software programs that you download off of the Internet. Once installed, the malware installs browser plugins to manipulate the victim's web browser configurations to replace their default search engines and home pages with fake search engines (trotux.com). "It's important to remember that when a user installs freeware, additional malware isn't necessarily dropped at the same time," researchers said. "Furthermore, it is likely that Rafotech is using additional distribution methods, such as spreading freeware under fake names, spam, or even buying installs from threat actors."
You should see an icon (bottom left) click on it, and click "About". If you see "wIndows" anywhere, you're infected.
Slashdot, fix the reply notifications... You won't get away with it...
Sounds like its just Banzai Buddy 2.0..
Unless there's something TFA is glossing over, it sounds like fairly standard adware.. they even state that it safely goes away when you uninstall the offending container software, making it actually less obnoxious than Banzai Buddy and his friends from a decade ago.
Fireball is literally no different then the ad-based crap Window$ pushes. It's not harmful on its own but can be used maliciously. Though, I doubt anyone really read the source. Fireball is a Chinese thing. Do you get your freemium software from Chinese websites? If you are a Slashdotter, then hopeful not, or your a sadomasochist/complete moron. This is nothing more than a clever scare brought on by Micro$oft to get people on the M$ store bandwagon. Just learn to use FOSS applications. I know it's unjustifiably painful for whatever reason for Window$ users to not pay for things that are developed by hundreds of collaborators with source code to look at, but it won't actually hurt you.