Bitcoin Forum

"Doctor Web identifies pirated Windows builds with crypto stealer that penetrates EFI partition
Doctor Web has discovered a malicious clipper program in a number of unofficial Windows 10 builds that cybercriminals have been distributing via a torrent tracker. Dubbed Trojan.Clipper.231, this trojan app substitutes crypto wallet addresses in the clipboard with addresses provided by attackers. As of this moment, malicious actors have managed to steal cryptocurrency in an amount equivalent to about $19,000 US.

At the end of May 2023, a customer contacted Doctor Web with their suspicion that their Windows 10 computer was infected. The analysis our specialists carried out confirmed the presence of trojan applications in the system. These were Trojan.Clipper.231 stealer malware as well as the Trojan.MulDrop22.7578 dropper and Trojan.Inject4.57873 injector, which were used to launch the clipper. Doctor Web’s virus laboratory successfully localized all these threats and neutralized them."
https://news.drweb.com/show/?lng=en&i=14712

Reason why the software developers create free software for everyone is not all about the freedom of having free software applications but the exchange of this is having possible malicious malware injected in the downloading of software, it could possible that there's possible suspected viruses can be detected if you are using a legitimate security defender. In short free software, exchange for your data. The reason why secure your devices, if you have money to invest in crypto, invest too in security.

Back then I sometimes use these pirated builds of Windows 7 from the PirateBay since it was like the common OS used before even 10 and 8 arrived. Good thing I was not hodling any sorts of crypto during those days, as I did not really care on how malicious would using those builds be.

Now that Windows 10 is free to download officially from Microsoft assuming you don't really care that much in personalization stuffs. Otherwise I would just use Linux in that case already lol.

Usually I am fine already with Microsoft Security itself unless I really dig deep too much in the internet which I rarely do now these days.

I literally had no problem back then when installing cracked Windows 10 if it means I wouldn't get those unnecessary activation notifications; what matters to me was the fact that I can play my games without any unnecessary annoyances. This is until I got into bitcoin/crypto — then I had to take security very seriously.

Anyone who uses pirated software should ask questions to themselves about what is the motive of the pirates. Noting how cryptocurrencies user became more diverse, it is necessary to take extra precautions about the operating system or device that anyone uses to manage their own cryptocurrency.

Also, Pirating software requires laborious work, time, and energy. Are we sure that they cracked the software specifically for ideological purposes, or for their own benefit just like in this kind of case? Seems it is unlikely if they are doing it freely and voluntarily.

There are few people in my circle who occasionally come to me for installing windows on their machine and I just download the OS from official site and then patch the windows activation into it. It works fine.
These days it isn't required to patch windows because windows identifies the activation key that comes along with the laptop automatically.
Besides that, there are activation keys which can be purchased for cheaper price online and will eliminate this risk of downloading pirated windows.

I think this pirated windows had been pirated again so that trojan will be injected to the software.  The original pirated version of window OS had been circulating in the internet for several years but it was just now when the issue about crypto stealer arise.

But of course to be sure about our system being safe from these kind of malware we must download the software from the official sites and pay for the activation if needed.  It is just a small amount of money compared to the possible losses one can experience if they continue with pirated copy of the software.

I think you talking about KMS**** to spoof or to activate your Windows 10 which is an illegal tool and could also have some adware or malware. I've tried that thing on my old Laptop I notice some added software on Task Manager after using that tool and every time I restart the Laptop it also runs in the background which I think may be software that monitors all my activity.

Be very careful if you still using this PC with patch activation and maybe they are waiting for a huge transaction before they are going to attack your PC actually, you can use Windows 10 without activating it but have limited features however, it is still safer than patched Activation.

Oth respect to the individuals referred to in OP,
You can't be involved in a malicious act and not have some dose of the path dished out for you. What goes around comes around they say. Its a pirated or cracked stuff and those with the good enough intent and knowledge to do this could as well manage it to install a mallard that could serve their purpose.

The next thing here is,
I won't be cool working or having my documents on that device. Not like I'll dump it or something but, not for any sensitive and financial stuff. I can't be so sure it's all debugged no matter which doctor diagnosed the device.

This is the reason why it's always good to get windows directly from a licensed shop. I was never even aware of how harmful and dangerous it was for one to get any form of software from roadside sellers because the risk was even higher than the money the person could have actually paid to get the original. Until I saw a few clipboard virus threads on this forum and the possible reasons for how those actually happened,

And this form of crypto-stealing malware might also be inbuilt in some other popularly used window and app apps out there; one just needs to be careful about the kind of things they install on their PC, especially when those PCs are to be used for crypto-related transactions.

This crypto-installed virus on the PC is popular these days because people are noticing it. Who knows what else other hackers might have installed on some pirated software out there and what data they might be stealing from our computers without our knowledge?

I was in the same spot, I was pirating everything before I became involved with Bitcoin, now I only use my tablet for piracy, and that tablet never touches any other devices. As for Windows, the last time I was installing it I was seriously considering buying a license, but then I found a loophole for downloading Windows installation from Microsoft and activating it without cracking, and it works to this day without problem. I don't know if this loophole is still recent, I found it on reddit.

The funny thing is that I always used pirated Windows software on my computers and never thought of such a possibility. Certainly, I hadn't ruled out the likelihood of a copy not being 100% free of viruses and malware, but I'd never have thought that it could potentially come with malware aimed at stealing wallet details; I never thought that I could possibly lose my Bitcoin that way. Nowadays, it's almost inevitable to diminish these kinds of threats; you'll have to practically avoid anything suspicious, and sometimes it's not always possible. Eventually, you might be caught in a similar trap and end up losing your hard-earned coins.

It's advisable for anyone who's using a pirated Windows edition to check if the downloaded torrent is any of these mentioned in the article and proceed with a full fresh install immediately.

Who would’ve thought that downloading a software modified by some stranger and adding banking information or crypto wallets in that software is a bad idea?

This is why you either go full license mode or you move to a free system like linux distros! Never a good idea to play with modified software and sensitive information.

Use official software with money you pay for its license key is safe.

If you don't want to pay money to buy a license key, you will use cracked software with many backdoors that can infect your devices.
If you want safety and don't want to face with risk of malware, trojans from cracked softwares, you have to consider Linux operation system. It is free to download.

Linux: https://linuxmint.com/
How to Install Tails OS on USB flash drive for Wallet Purpose (https://bitcointalk.org/index.php?topic=5228801.0)

Any software that is offered on torrents with supposedly already hacked activation keys will necessarily contain not only a Trojan that steals user data but also many other viruses. I do not think that here, on the forum, this will be news to anyone. It has always been, If you want something for free, you must donate something in return.
Moreover, the Windows system itself is a "sieve" that passes viruses everywhere, and if you use a system to which other people's hands are attached, it is easier for you to simply send your funds to a hacker.
It will sound trite, but the call not to trust Windows has been very relevant for several years, despite all the efforts of Microsoft.

As I mentioned in my previous post, I was using it earlier and right now I have a genuine copy of windows since it's a new laptop.
But even in the old laptop the source of that tool was genuine as my friend got it from the developer's official website.
But yeah, we never know what can happen and so genuine copies are always better. I think Linux distros are the best. More like plug and play. LOL.

We need to be also more observant from the sites we make our downloads from, they have to be a genuine and official website of the intended destination, they have made clones of many websites creating a look alike version, same also to the apps we oftentimes downloaded, those software unleashed to possess malicious malware in them through the channels they come through, this makes us to have more sensitive attention given to the way we downloaded some of the softwares we uses in our daily lives.

I just want to add to this post by OP that the reason for people who are ended loosing their money are because of installing other unknown applications, like what we have discuss before like clicking links , with an executable file, also version of windows that has been customized, and downloading applications in torrentz and free download file, this crypto stealers where attach to it, there are some reasons or HINT foe newbies out here to spot if there is sometime wrong with your systems
Here are some:

• If you computer works fine and suddenly acting weird like being slow, and having applications open far long with not responding you might be already infected
• Your Computer are using so much resources while just opening a tab

The most common and i have experience is that computer are running slow, this is one of clients all computers have a high specs, but computer runs slow as per checking it has a minersoftware installed all computers, and it came from a software he installed.

If your computer suddenly becomes very slow, something is running and if it occurs after you install a or some softwares, you must check those softwares carefully. If you download those softwares from third party websites, free, with additional tools to crack its license, you have risk.

If you buy that disk from any store and that software is a cracked one, not official license, you have risk.

I used cracked softwares very comfortably but when I joined cryptocurrency and started to install wallet softwares on my computer, I stopped using any crack software.

Nice one 👍🏼

There is more I will like to share too, a close friend of mine is very fond of buying used laptops on the open market and he always prefer to use the laptop with the reinstalled OS, I don't like the idea, I told him to reinstall windows OS instead of using the windows that was installed on the laptop, because we can't be sure if it's safe to use.

Some months later, all his assets were stolen from his laptop, at first I couldn't remember that I've warned him, I thought the assets were stolen my closed friends of his, it was later that I asked and he told me that he never reformatted the PC and install a fresh OS.

I knew that this could be the case why his assets got stolen, I never liked the idea of using a preinstalled OS on a used PC unless it's a brand new laptop with an unopened seal.

You can buy a Windows license key for $9. If the link does not open, then look at
https://aliexpress.com/
https://aliexpress.ru/wholesale?SearchText=windows+10+pro+key&g=y&page=1
I downloaded the original Windows image from the official site using MediaCreationTool22H2.
Such Windows is dangerous for software wallets, but I would not spare $ 9 even if I had a hardware wallet.

You can buy it even cheaper if you look at the Goods board on this forum, noting that you should be careful because there are a lot of scammers who are willing to do anything for a couple of $ profits. But the question arises as to why people even pay for Windows if we know that at least version 10 was free to upgrade, and almost fully functional even without a license.

People have to completely forget pirated software if they do not want to infect their computers, and this is especially true for those who have crypto wallets on those same computers. A possible savings of a few dollars can mean a lot more loss if you download some malware that can empty your wallet.

This is one of the many reasons why I don't download crack software if the main one is requiring a paid version. I'm good of not using that software and I don't look for any alternative of it because I may ended up into the malware like this one. Usually, most of the pirated versions do have something behind it and that's why anyone who's into this should change and start availing software with a paid version.
Those who also likes to download from torrent or any other the same website, you'll get something for free as well but you'll never like what type of package you'll get that it has got behind.

That's true; you have to completely forget pirated software, especially if you're storing or using cryptocurrencies on that computer. I also suspect that I had been infected with a malicious Chrome extension through pirated software that I had downloaded. Luckily, I only suffered minor losses of a few dollars worth of XRP, and it could have cost me a fortune if it wasn't for that transaction. However, this incident taught me an important lesson: not to use pirated software ever again, at least on the computer I'm actively using for cryptocurrency purposes. There is an abundance of free or affordable alternatives, and if there isn't one and you have to download specific software, then isolate your cryptocurrency or trading activities on another computer.

Just to note that those are not legit retail keys but instead ones obtained in many "creative" ways and usually shoulnd't even be sold. I mean, they do work and might be ok for private user, but for example if you have you own business and are using that cheap key and inspection visits you, you will get fined.


Why should I mess around with cheap keys or pirated Windows when I can get the retail key for ~100 euro? Imho that amount of money is not worth the hassle. It was when I was 14 years old and I had different priorities (like the amount of pirated games I can buy instead paying for Windows) but now I just want things working properly without any issues.

I already bought a serial number on aliexpress and it still works, windows was activated as a licensed version. I know that some windows asked for reactivation after buying cheap serial numbers, and there are a lot of reviews on aliexpress that can be written six months after the purchase.