Bitcoin Forum

Have you ever downloaded and run software that exploited your Bitcoin wallet? What software was it and how much Bitcoin have you lost?

Do not post URLs please, just write your experience ))

When I was young, I downloaded a "Steam account cracker", which of course was a nasty trojan and not in the good meaning. Fortunately, I haven't lost Bitcoin from the case. Maybe because I didn't have any that time  ;D But my system behaved very strange and after virus removal, I had to change all my passwords.

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How to protect Yourself?
These are the best advice members posted so far

A very good checklist from Wandering Soul

Mometaskers who pointed out the importance of two-way authentication

Red-Apple's suggestion who pointed out the importance of VMs and sandboxie that even a regular BTC user should be aware of

As cryp24x wrote, using a multi-engine AV like Virustotal offers better results than any single-engine AV. It makes the hackers' job more difficult too by sending the infected file to the AV companies for further analysis

I haven't lost any BTC from getting infected.  I have Malwarebytes and ESET installed in my sytem.  Aside from that I am very cautious in clicking ads  or link even downloading software.  When it comes to wallet I always try to scan it with virustotal. 
Whenever I came across a suspected website, it is either malwarebytes or eset blocking it.

So far i never lost my coin because of malware. I only got my PC freeze everytime i open application

I haven't.  The only device I ever use bitcoin on is my phone, and I don't--and won't--download anything suspicious.  My phone is pretty minimal with the apps as it is. 

Is there any way for a phone to get infected?  I'm really ignorant about how these viruses or malware or whatever get on computers and steal bitcoin.  I haven't read much about this happening in my time on the forum.

So far with in a year of using bitcoin I haven't experience this I only used my mobile device or my computer accessing my wallet in a web wallet service and never installed like electrum or any desktop wallet on it. And I'm always careful and doubled check before installing an app in my device if it has malicious program on it.

Never in my life I experience that, I am strict with what I am downloading, I read it carefully and don't just download any suspicious apps or any. 
There are lots of instances I red that lost their bitcoin by downloading and others by signing up but they are just getting your information, so be very careful with it. Don't just give information instantly especially your bitcoin address.

my computer have never been infected by any kind of malware ever in the past 18 years or so that i have been using a computer because of two things:
- i never download anything shady and even if i do i test them in a sandbox
- i have a good antivirus


i call this karma :D

Nope. I have not lost any btc. I have good antivirus and i always make it updated to all virus signatures. Hackers can do anything now. Its up to us how we protect our holdings. Me, i prefer linux os since its easy to use and more secure than windows os. Dont install any suspicious apps because sometimes antivirus cant detected malwares. Dont use the device with intalled wallet too often on internet because its a higher chance you will infect with virus that will cause of losing your btc.

That means you do not have a strong anti malware and anti virus.these crackers are not safe and they usually give it free to gain access with your computer,this is why they crack it and gave it free ,so far I have not encountered getting my computer compromise I use a three anti virus and before I run any software I check it on Virustotal.

a string antivirus, malware protection,... are all good but they are not always going to protect you against all kinds of malicious software. that is why there is always a battle going on between the antivirus providers and the malicious files.
not downloading a suspicious file is better than having a illusion of safety because you have an antivirus.

I did not experience such kind of thing since I already always careful with clicking different links and softwares that I'm not familiar with. But in relation to that what I experience is downloading a gambling bot because it was addicted to dice games. The bot was suggested to me by my friend but only to find out that when your balance reach a certain amount the scrypt automatically deploys withdraw command to other bitcoin address. So in the end our balance was lost due to this bot.

I have never lost any coins in addresses generated on my side. However I have had lost coins on scam sites prior to knowing those HYIP sites are most likely scams.

Also I have had my computer infected by ransomware while they demand BTC for ransom. I don't pay them (and I don't even hold any BTC by that time) so I don't lost even a single satoshi.

Good luck for you not losing Bitcoins :) But yes, you have to inspect every source of any software you're downloading. If the software sounded too good, it's probably a scam.

I haven't experienced that situation where your device got infected by malware and lost a certain amount of bitcoin, I am very careful of what I am going to install on my PC and even on my mobile phone the best way to prevent this things to happen is to avoid downloading and installing a software from untrusted sources and avoid using other devices when you are going to check your web wallets or any accounts that's related to your finances .

No such experiences so far, lucky me. But this could happen to everyone, there are so much new and sophisticated malwares appearing each day. I'm trying tow be as careful as I can, I use antimalwares and check the source of software or app that I'm downloading.
Especialy dangerous are Bitcoin ransomwares, they are everywhere. So keep the back up of your files.

I'm never. Those Softwares which being entitled as a cracker tool or whatever similar are mostly designed to be phishing or keylogger. Downloading pirated software also could trigger an infection occur on your PC
so just get away from those things will make you safe or you can download those only if you're advanced enough to know what's inside the software. As a proof that this method is pretty effective is me, I've never got stolen my bitcoin even a cent from my computer because i prevent any downloads of suspicious things

Good question as this will remind people to be careful with their bitcoin stored in.machine.
Luckily I haven't lost any coin yet due to any malware or virus infection but I would be following this thread to check people's suggestions regarding protection of pc from any such infection and what anti virus is besr to prevent such mis hap

I am usually very cautious about what i download an actually only keep a minimum amout of bitcoin on my core wallet, everything else on encrypted paper wallets :)  

I have a few sloppy wallets on my desktop named "bitcoin and private key"  the file actually contains an address and priv key which i monitor,  the idea is that it would go first if i had bitcoin stealing malware.  lol or an attacker with access to my computer.

I haven't lost any amount of BTC from having my computer infected by viruses or malware, now that I'm earning btc I am securing my PC or even my mobile phone in order to prevent any unnecessary instances .


Android is not susceptible to virus threats and, provided you are careful about what you download, there is no real need for antivirus software as it is not actually helping your mobile phone security but instead it only use your RAM and your battery . but we are still vulnerable to keyloggers or any malicious software that can damage our device or some times the person who made that malware intends to use your PC or device to get visitors to their websites or advertise some thing just like what I have experienced before and you mentioned that you do not download and install anything suspicious then you are far from risks .

it is always best to prevent rather than cure.
i also have been always super careful about anything security related. that is why all these virtual machines or sandboxes exist after all. you install one and do everything risky there and if infected you easily get rid of it.

I never had that many coins in my wallet, to lose them due to trojan infection. Also, never stored any of my coins in my laptop or mobile. I have always used Blockchain.info to store my coins. That eliminates the risk of losing coins as a result of virus infection.

Haven't experienced such a infection due to some of the software or other malware issues. I have been using online wallet from the start of bitcoin. Till date no problem of security or other error has happened.

Yes, i do, about 1.2Btc and worth about 800$ that time

Not yet but might happen if I'm not careful enough. These are the things that I'm doing to prevent it:

1). Search before you install
2). Don't click unknown/malicious links/ads
3). Install Anri-virus
4). Don't download pirated stuffs or from malicious sites
5). Don't enter your private key to any unknown site/app/software

Hope it helps  :D

I don't have that kind of experience, since the first time i knew bitcoin,my friend already reminds me of hackers and virus, he also reminds me of not click on link from random guys, my friend had ever become the victim someone send him the link and he opened it, and the next day he lost 1 btc

i fortunately never experienced it. Besides, I don't have much bits anyway. It would really be helpful if you use two-way authentication whenever it's available. Might have to be careful with downloaded files though. A week ago I was installing a program and the keygen it came with that has always worked and was never flagged before was declared infected by Avast.

i think you need to use a recommended anti virus, some time anti virus do not play their role in an effective way. i personally do not face any such kind of problem in my life. but still adopt different defensive strategy. 

It never happened to me until now and I think it will not happen as I have switched to hardware wallet. However even when I didn't have this hardware wallet and was running electrum and multibit I was always careful and used them mainly in Linux , but even in Windows I always used the Avira Pro Antivirus so yes, nothing have ever happened to me and I am very proud about this.

and how did it happen if you don't mind me asking the details? I want to help people around be more cautious and to be more cautious myself.


Thank you! These are really useful suggestion. I've included it in the thread with giving credits so that we could help more people with your very good points.


Thank you for ponting out the importance of two-way authentication! Fortunately, many sites support it nowadays. I could say that it became a standard and if a site doesn't have it, that's suspicious by default. So, I've added this suggestion to the thread with giving credits.

Using online wallet... HW wallets for the win, online wallets are asking for trouble


I was infected by something that nabs coins but was saved due to the use of hardware wallets which act as a trusted device to sign transactions within them.

I'm continually updating the thread with new advice based on cases. If I left any good suggestion out, please let me know! If you suggested the same thing earlier than the listed members, please let me know! I'll give credits to everyone and together we'll raise community awareness.

I did, that was a while ago. It wasn't a virus really or a keygen, it was a rigged software that had a script in it for a gambling website. People said it was the best and it was, until the developer updated the app to a new version which.. Stole your money.

No, but I lost about 2 BTC from my localbitcoins wallet when I accidentally entered my password into a phishing site that went something like localbitcions.com. I just got a new phone and had 2FA turned off and was actually logging back in to turn it back on against the Google Authenticator on my new phone. My stupid new phone autocompleted the URL to the phishing site and almost instantly I lost the 2BTC that I had in the wallet because I was about to sell them.

For me i am still not experience to lost btc in my wallet i just always use the best anti virus kaspersky and always updated..
many viruses right now are spreading through the internet most of them are malware and trojan..
Also before i was infected of ransomware but i fix it when i was using kaspersky and recover my files because of those ransomware they lock all my files except the electrum wallet but i fix before my electrum wallet affected..

never. I just have an online wallet, and I rarely use my computer to download something. and then when I earn bitcoin, I use it to buy things I need. I rarely save my bitcoin because it is my main job to live. so I do not often have bitcoin.

It makes the hackers' job more difficult too by sending the infected file to the AV companies for further analysis. It's called distribution and hackers hate it because AV companies tend to catch tricky viruses too sooner or later. Once they can do it, their products'll recognize it in the next scan.

Wait.. it autocompleted the URL to a phishing site? How is that even possible, where did it get the URL from?
I can't imagine the phishing site would get higher in the search results than the original one. Or maybe it autocompleted after you mistyped a letter?

So, are these two better than AVG?
I'm currently only using AVG but I recently read somewhere that it's not that good and it's failing to catch some virus/malware. So, I'm in the market for a better one.

Anyway, so far I've managed to keep my coins safe. Thankfully. Haven't lost anything either on my online or desktop wallets, and I hope to keep it that way. Probably because none of them are holding much.  ;D

The only things I download are books and those are from sites I've used for years now.

As long as you have a decent antivirus program and some common sense AVG should do the job. I went for a long time without any kind of antivirus and I had little to no problems at all.

To answer the question of the topic, no I haven't lost any coins. Not even from holding them on gambling sites ;)

For years I kept my coins in a wallet on my PC, luckily I never had any stolen. Thankfully we have good, affordable hardware wallets now.

I am still using online wallet (blockchain) so I have not tried the desktop wallets, however I have anti-malware and antivirus on my computer. my biggest concern is the keyloggers which can steal your passwords easily, some passwords may worth much more than the money in my wallet.

If you're paranoid about losing your bitcoins to a trojan, you can always keep your wallet saved under a different user and remove all file permissions.

I have never experience where my personal computer got infected by malware, viruses or bug that destroyed my bitcoin. I always have an antivirus in my personal computers and full scan it every week. And everytime I feel like my computer is not behaving properly I always consult my uncle because he is a computer hardware and software technician. My computers and smartphones is the medium why I'm receiving and sending BTC. As a countermeasure I always have it password protected and I'm always careful on the links and downloads that can ruin my computer system.
"Prevention is better than cure."

My PC was entered by somebody and trying to steal my coins in coinbase.
There were a confirmation from coinbase to my email and after a few second it was deleted.

So beware I got it from here. From service sectio  offering an easy money.

In my case , I always use online wallet providers. So if my PC gets infected also my coins will be safe. I know online wallets are not so safe. But I prefer to use them only.Anyways my PC is protected with good anti virus so I dont think much about it. I do download all types of program. Becaues of anti virus my PC is still safe.

Most users have been using online wallets. I too use an online wallet for saving my bitcoins. Particularly when it comes to losing of bitcoin through infected URLa have never experienced. Lost around one bitcoin by losing the security phrase written paper. When I tried to take it back it has been taken under control by some other user.

Even me I never tried to have it on my pc cause i am afraid that my laptop can be entered by anyone easily. I use Kespersky Internet protection yet we cant be sure because hacker can hack even the most secure enterprise system. :o

I never encounter such thing, I have an anti virus in my laptop and I don't download files in where I am storing my bitcoin, in short I never put any thing in it, specially internet, that is the safest thing that I know that could protect my wallet from malware.

If I see my computer that has internet acts a little weird, or it feels like it is slowing down, then I reinstall the OS. All is clean again.

Your solution is Tails my man, this OS boots from a DVD and you can boot from a clean system every time. You just disable Persistence and you are set to go. I run the system without a hard drive to access my "online" accounts, so these virusses and malware have nowhere to go.

Only the most tech savy hacker will be able to infect the Bios/Firmware but I can flash that too, if I really wanted to.

I have not lost 1 Satoshi so far, but I think my hardware wallet helps with that. ^smile^

I think this is less likely to happen than what people make it out to be, on the contrary I've lost a private key when I sent a laptop in for repair but there were no coins in that wallet anyways

For 2 years when I learn bitcloin, so far I never encountered such any problem getting infected of any malware virus. Im always using my celphone and often my laptop, Im very careful when I have to download any applications. Ill see to it that i have anti virus installed in my laptop before using weird applications. As in my celphone Im very careful also.

better to use an online wallet like blockchain or Coinbase I think it would be spared from the virus that might steal your bitcoin
moreover also extremely secure  with online wallet #imo coz I never lose because in dikes

Despite all of the Antivirus and Internet Security that we are using, our computer is still prone to thieves. The reason for this is that we give access to people that we trust. Anyone can have the intent of getting all your bitcoins especially when you make them aware that you have a lot of bitcoins and that bitcoins have really high price.

I never lost bitcoins from getting my computer infected. I'm not using a desktop wallet and I enabled 2FA as well so it's pretty hard for the hacker to get in even if he cracked have my password.

never lost any bitcoin to wallet stealer, my machien was never violated, but i'm prepared in the case this happening, i' never use the machien where there is my wallet to download not signed stuff from the net

i only use the VM to download shady things, plus scanning them anyway with various antivirus, i know this is not enough, in fact my trick is to leave a small amount of btc(less than 1 or 0.1) in my wallet if that is stolen i know the machien is compromised

Dear lord the bitcoin doublers, 99% are scams and 1% involves money laundry so you might have criminal money linked to your wallet rn

Oh I might have posted on the wrong topic. But anyway, yes at least I learned and the bitcoins lost is only $2 worth.

I am also infected with a "Clip Board virus". I noticed when I copied my address and then pasted, it it automatically change to a different address. Fortunately I noticed it before it's too late. I now scan my PC for viruses, evening, every last day of the month.

Hmm, is that true? . As I am new I know bitcoin several months ago and new to this forum 2 months ago. If you use bitcoin on the beginning of his appearance, meaning now you get a very big advantage..?? because at the time of the initial appearance of the bitcoin can we mine the with get rewarded more than 4 BTC in a day or even 100 BtC in a day. If indeed it is true, then congratulations you have become someone extraordinary
 

If you think that by using online wallet you will be free from those viruses then you're definitely wrong. This virus can steal data or record what you've submitted to the internet and it's ain't safe even if you're using online wallet. Your internet activity can be recorded once you're infected and it's no different. Also, using online wallets have several problem that cause losing your bitcoins. It's all depend on us as the bitcoin users and owners ourselves to face and prevent this problem.

It would be all the same and just as you said if we do have an infected computer all of our important details and keyboard strokes would be recorded and be sent to its creator which mean the risk is always there that's why we should take all the safety measure on our pc that we do use on bitcoin transactions to avoid such lose of bitcoin on our wallets it either on offline or online.

Two years ago I was enticed on installing this bitcoin generator software that when you installed it you will earn 1 bitcoin daily. I nearly downloaded it but thanks to the poor internet connection I failed to download it. Weeks later my friends who have downloaded it told us that after downloading his wallet was hacked and he lost his bitcoins in his wallet causing him to reformat his computer. Thanks to poor internet connection I was saved from hackers.

Ive been almost lost my bitcoin on previous year when my computer have been infected and that virus was making another bitcoin wallet address and anytime you do make transfers it would paste another bitcoin address instead of pasting yours.Luckily,i have always checked my bitcoin address when i do make transfers like deposit or withdraw.

i was using online wallet and cryptocurrency exchanges for last 2 years and never had experience to losing my bitcoin because hacked attempt happened if we tempting to download or click the particular links but fortunately i wasn't tempted to do so and always checked every links to ensure that it's safe or not maybe that's why my PC still clean from malware

I have not yet lost BTC from getting infected. I keep most of my bitcoins on cold storage, so that even in case my computer gets infected, my bitcoins are safe. I also am very careful in what I install on my computer.

Fortunately, I didn't lost any bitcoin so far from getting infected. I try to be careful not to click links in my email especially for unknown source because it may contain malicious attachment or malware that can be downloaded and installed in my pc without my knowledge. For added protection, I have my other laptop that I usually don't use, so I only used it for transferring or withdrawing my bitcoin around, I don't used it to surf the Internet or download something. I used different PC/laptop for surfing and downloading torrrents but I have a anti-virus, anti-malware installed.

So far, I didn't expected anything similar. But I'm a bit afraid to keep my bitcoins in desktop wallet. I often visiting warez websites (torrents, sports streaming and similar) which are often have malicious content. It's a big risk to catch virus and sometimes even antivirus can't help.
But I'm trying to not download anything from suspicious websites. I also never downloaded any "btc generators" or something similar, because I think mostly such programs is malicious.

I never lost any Bitcoin from getting infected. I don't download unknown files promising money returns and I always check downloads reviews when I want to download something (not related to BTCs or money). It's important to have a good program to clean the computer also from online threats, not only antivirus, but those programs which clean your temporary files.