Concerning Malwares

[Gio vanna]

Good day

I've being this forum for not quite long , coming here at first didn't understand anything about bitcoin technical part first time I encountered a discussion in this thread it seems interesting, got me feeling dizzy was like seeing some words haven't seen before.
But I was still moved to learn about it then I actually started learning about  technical part of bitcoin and I can see some improvement. But I'm still on the wallet part during my research found out malware can cause damages to our wallet (software wallet because is connected to intern) . And mostly use by hackers but still don't get it clear. I actually vibe learning from different sources and this forum one of them.
My questions are:
•What damages can a malware cause to your wallet?
•What are the signs that your wallet being attacked by malwares?
•How can it be prevented?
Any one opinion is appreciated, thank you.

[1714492494]

1714492494

[1714492494]

1714492494

[Charles-Tim]

•What damages can a malware cause to your wallet?

Malware may not likely damage your wallet. What malware will do is to steal your keys so that the hacker that steal it can use it to spend your coins. Malware may not steal your keys but able to make you send to a wrong address, like the clipboard malware. So malware will most likely compromised your wallet instead.

•What are the signs that your wallet being attacked by malwares?

There may be no sign until it is too late after your coins have been stolen. But there are sometimes that you may notice, like the clipboard malware in which the address you copy would not be the address your clipboard will paste. That is a sign of malware. But the most important thing is to avoid malware instead.

To clean your device from malware, format it completely and reinstall its OS.

•How can it be prevented?

Use cold wallet instead, like wallet on an airgapped device https://electrum.readthedocs.io/en/latest/coldstorage.html

Or you can get yourself a hardware wallet.

Learn about multisig wallet
https://electrum.readthedocs.io/en/latest/multisig.html
https://bitcoinelectrum.com/creating-a-multisig-wallet/

Online wallets are not safe.

Make sure you avoid malware. Do not click on ads, avoid downloading torrent files and visit only the correct URLs.

[Zaguru12]

1. The most common damages that malware causes is the fact that they can steal your informations or say data. This information can either be a private key or seed phrase which both are the most important data of crypto wallets that needs to be kept save. Malwares can cause clipboard issues where it changes intended addresses to that of an hacker’s

2. It is mostly hard to identify whether a device has caught malware easily even some Antivirus do not detect some viruses easily. One of the common ways to detect a malware is when the device is slowing down but this days some malware actually do not make a device to slow down.

3. The surest way to prevent malware is to keep the device offline and that’s why offline wallets are mostly advice as the best wallets. You can also use Antivirus but must be the official website and verified. Do not download any crack version of an app. Learn to use OS like Linux because Windows are mostly prune to malware

[Gio vanna]

BMalware may not likely damage your wallet. What malware will do is to steal your keys so that the hacker that steal it can use it to spend your coins. Malware may not steal your keys but able to make you send to a wrong address, like the clipboard malware. So malware will most likely compromised your wallet instead.

So base on your valuable point got me thinking you specifying "clipboard malwares" because clipboard hijacking Malwares normally copy data intercept data being copied and pasted and replace it with malicious code. That why they can replace addresses by changing it to the hacker address. So was force to make some research and found out that they different Malwares with different uses to hackers right

[LoyceV]

•What damages can a malware cause to your wallet?
•What are the signs that your wallet being attacked by malwares?
•How can it be prevented?

I think you're going at this all wrong. When it comes to malware, you should always assume the worst. Assume it's going to steal everything, and destroy all data on your computer. Once you've accepted that there is no safe online wallet, you can decide how to store your Bitcoins. So keep only small amounts on hot wallets for daily spending, and keep the majority of your coins safely offline.

"clipboard malwares"

See: How to lose your Bitcoins with CTRL-C CTRL-V.

[ABCbits]

My questions are:
•What damages can a malware cause to your wallet?
•What are the signs that your wallet being attacked by malwares?

It depends on each malware capability. Malware which created with intention of earning money illegal usually doesn't damage your wallet software/file, but rather copy your wallet file along with it's content (private key, transaction/address note, etc.). They also may put keylogger on your system in order to obtain password when you access your wallet file.

•How can it be prevented?

It's just like how you secure your device in general. But as mentioned by other member, using hardware wallet or using your device only for Bitcoin (and optionally doesn't connect to internet) is generally better option.

[ranochigo]

So base on your valuable point got me thinking you specifying "clipboard malwares" because clipboard hijacking Malwares normally copy data intercept data being copied and pasted and replace it with malicious code. That why they can replace addresses by changing it to the hacker address. So was force to make some research and found out that they different Malwares with different uses to hackers right

There is practically no difference between "clipboard" malwares or any other kinds of malware for that matter. Once your computer gets compromised, the possibility that the attacker can do is limitless. They can access your computers, change whatever is on your clipboards, dump your memory, etc.

You probably won't get infected if you're sure that you do not run any unverified or otherwise suspicious files or go to any malicious websites (most of these actually rely on vulnerabilities to escape the browser sandbox). AntiViruses ARE NOT foolproof, they compare the files against the behavior by known malwares or by looking at the signature to classify the malware. Hence, it cannot detect everything. When in doubt, use a hardware wallet.

[Lucius]

Some might even ask the question which is worse - if the computer is infected with clipboard malware, with ransomware or with a remote access trojan?

For someone who has cryptocurrencies in their desktop or online wallet (CEX), clipboard malware is definitely a big risk if they don't pay attention to the details, otherwise such malware cannot cause damage. On the other hand, a computer infected with ransomware is practically useless because all files are locked, but if there is a backup, we can bypass the protection, or if there is no backup, we can wait for the authorities to catch the perpetrator and publish the decryption keys online.

I think that RAT is something that can cause the greatest damage because the hacker takes complete control over the computer, and if he does it carefully the victim does not have to notice anything for a long time. In that case, the hacker can spy on the victim and wait for the right moment to hack the wallet, because why hack someone who has $100 of value, if you have information that he plans to buy 5 or 10 times as much?

That's why the theory about checking the security of the wallet by sending a smaller amount and waiting to see if it will disappear is not completely safe.

[Gio vanna]

Now I understand how it's works
A friend of mine once said thank you all for your supports

[dkbit98]

•What damages can a malware cause to your wallet?

Silly question.

•What are the signs that your wallet being attacked by malwares?

How about your coin balance goes to zero in your wallet 

•How can it be prevented?

Switch to Linux OS asap is the best prevention and protection..
99% of all malware is made for windows os, and you don't need to worry about this things anymore.
However, you still have to use your head to avoid common phishing attacks.

[Gio vanna]

•What damages can a malware cause to your wallet?

Silly question.

•What are the signs that your wallet being attacked by malwares?

How about your coin balance goes to zero in your wallet 

•How can it be prevented?

Switch to Linux OS asap is the best prevention and protection..
99% of all malware is made for windows os, and you don't need to worry about this things anymore.
However, you still have to use your head to avoid common phishing attacks.

How about your coin balance goes to zero in your wallet

That would be really heart breaking and there's nothing you can do to.make it reappear 🥲

Switch to Linux OS asap is the best prevention and protection..
99% of all malware is made for windows os, and you don't need to worry about this things anymore.
However, you still have to use your head to avoid common phishing attacks.

oh alright thanks for the tips just gathering knowledge about it Incase anyone I know off having issues concerning such thing, so that I can dive in like an hero😁

[NotATether]

•What damages can a malware cause to your wallet?

Well it will drain it, of course.

•What are the signs that your wallet being attacked by malwares?

Difficult question, as it is very difficult to detect a malware infection as they usually just download the wallet file to their own servers and do the cracking there.

•How can it be prevented?

Use an antivirus and don't click on shady links such as "GET FREE BITCOINS HERE" or "AIRDROP" and be careful with pirated software. And always update your software to the latest version as well as using a hardware wallet to store large amounts of funds.

[LoyceV]

don't click on shady links such as "GET FREE BITCOINS HERE"

This is one of the things that got me into Bitcoin back in the days

[examplens]

And always update your software to the latest version as well as using a hardware wallet to store large amounts of funds.

Software updates can also cause various complications, and I wouldn't recommend it as a "must". I have often seen that a new patch update came out immediately after the last update because a bug crept in. Plus, insisting on a new update can lead to phishing mistakes.

Clipboard malware is a problem, but if someone is careful, they have a chance to recognize it. But I think that keyloggers cause more damage because at some point they enable full access to the wallet, PK, seed phrases, passwords, etc... Plus, it's much harder to detect it with the usual use of devices. So I would recommend the OP to pay attention to this type of malware as well.

[ranochigo]

Some might even ask the question which is worse - if the computer is infected with clipboard malware, with ransomware or with a remote access trojan?

Generally, all of those are components of a single RAT. RATs usually has the ability to replace or copy content on the clipboard if enabled, and in certain cases are able to function as a ransomware as well. If you're infected with any of them, you would probably be infected with all of them.

Difficult question, as it is very difficult to detect a malware infection as they usually just download the wallet file to their own servers and do the cracking there.

Unless the malware is well obfuscated, most of the antivirus does behavioral analysis as well. In essence, if it does something that is out of the ordinary, it gets flagged. You can of course, evade this with a very good crypter but I don't think any of them lasts very long even with it.

Software updates can also cause various complications, and I wouldn't recommend it as a "must". I have often seen that a new patch update came out immediately after the last update because a bug crept in. Plus, insisting on a new update can lead to phishing mistakes.

It depends on the kind of updates. We've had quite a few updates for important software that didn't disclose about the fixed vulnerabilities to give their users time to perform the necessary update. Remember WannaCry? Reluctance to update was the main reason for its severity.

[takuma sato]

Running Linux will solve most issues. Most malware runs on windows due source code being closed, so this is perfect to embed malicious code into programs Get Ubuntu and disable all possible tracking for ads Amazon and so on assuming they still do that and you are good. An alternative would be Linux Mint. Then just don't visit any dumb websites and that's all you need to be honest. But of course you should have a separate laptop that hosts your private keys that never connects to the internet and then have a separate laptop to broadcast transactions, look up airgap bitcoin node wallet on google and get that setup for max protection.

[ABCbits]

And always update your software to the latest version as well as using a hardware wallet to store large amounts of funds.

Software updates can also cause various complications, and I wouldn't recommend it as a "must". I have often seen that a new patch update came out immediately after the last update because a bug crept in. Plus, insisting on a new update can lead to phishing mistakes.

It's valid concern, although it's also reason people suggest to bookmark where you download the software and optimally verify GPG signature.

Running Linux will solve most issues. Most malware runs on windows due source code being closed, so this is perfect to embed malicious code into programs Get Ubuntu and disable all possible tracking for ads Amazon and so on assuming they still do that and you are good.

That was about a decade ago though, these days there shouldn't be Amazon ads or tracking Ubuntu.

[examplens]

It's valid concern, although it's also reason people suggest to bookmark where you download the software and optimally verify GPG signature.

The first thing that comes to my mind is, for example, Update the Trezor suite or Trezor firmware. At some point, a pop-up appears with a link to download a new update. If I remember correctly, it happened that the new update brought some bugs (which were otherwise quickly corrected), so for this reason, I usually refused and waited with installing the new version. I believe that the vast majority of users immediately install the new update, without checking if everything is ok.

note: just realized that you are ETFbitcoin with a new name 

[Kakmakr]

Well, there are some attacks like the "Clipboard" hijacking, that can be used to replace the hackers address with the one that you wanted to paste in the sender address of the wallet, when you want to send tokens.

The address is so long and case sensitive, so people do not type it. Hackers know people just Copy&Paste Crypto addresses, so they target the clipboard.

One way to test this, is to copy and paste an address and then to paste it to a text file... if it shows another address, then you know your clipboard are compromised.

[ABCbits]

It's valid concern, although it's also reason people suggest to bookmark where you download the software and optimally verify GPG signature.

The first thing that comes to my mind is, for example, Update the Trezor suite or Trezor firmware. At some point, a pop-up appears with a link to download a new update. If I remember correctly, it happened that the new update brought some bugs (which were otherwise quickly corrected), so for this reason, I usually refused and waited with installing the new version. I believe that the vast majority of users immediately install the new update, without checking if everything is ok.

I get your concern. Although if the software only connect to reference or official server, it's unlikely you'll download malware (which is topic of this thread). As for new bug introduced by the update, we only can hope the software creator perform more through test.

[NotATether]

And always update your software to the latest version as well as using a hardware wallet to store large amounts of funds.

Software updates can also cause various complications, and I wouldn't recommend it as a "must". I have often seen that a new patch update came out immediately after the last update because a bug crept in. Plus, insisting on a new update can lead to phishing mistakes.

Depends on what the software is and how it is updated.

A few dinosaur and legacy software or very complicated programs use a very involved updating process internally, that is very brittle and breaks easily (like Windows). Then you have package managers like brew, apt, dnf, pip, npm, helm and so on that are actually well-designed and should not break your configuration most of the time. YMMV.

[Gio vanna]

•What damages can a malware cause to your wallet?
•What are the signs that your wallet being attacked by malwares?
•How can it be prevented?

I think you're going at this all wrong. When it comes to malware, you should always assume the worst. Assume it's going to steal everything, and destroy all data on your computer. Once you've accepted that there is no safe online wallet, you can decide how to store your Bitcoins. So keep only small amounts on hot wallets for daily spending, and keep the majority of your coins safely offline.

"clipboard malwares"

See: How to lose your Bitcoins with CTRL-C CTRL-V.

hmm this nice I. Know that hot wallet are easy to be target for hackers, keeping little asset there would actually be a smart move. So when it's comes to offline wallet which can you recommend for Me that would be more user-friendly. And easy to access.

[Z-tight]

hmm this nice I. Know that hot wallet are easy to be target for hackers, keeping little asset there would actually be a smart move. So when it's comes to offline wallet which can you recommend for Me that would be more user-friendly. And easy to access.

If you store a small amount of your coins in a hot wallet, then that is surely not a problem, a hot wallet should be for storing coins that you probably want to spend on the go, maybe anything < or = $100.

For offline wallets, you can buy a hardware wallet, it is user-friendly for newbies and they can be able to use it in a safe enviroment. Passport and Trezor are examples of recommended hardware wallets. You could also set up an Electrum wallet on a completely airgapped device that will never be connected to the internet, however this is more difficult for newbies to create and use in a safe enviroment.

[Cricktor]

Try not to use your "daily internet shit" computer for your crypto wallet stuff. Try to use a dedicated Linux machine for interaction with your crypto wallet. As mentioned earlier a hot software wallet should probably only contain as much coins as you'd normaly carry with you in your pocket or briefcase.

If you can afford a decent hardware wallet (not speaking of Ledger crap here), I'd always prefer it over solely software wallets. Always thoroughly check all transaction details before you sign a transaction. A hardware wallet needs a dedicated display for this which is only under control of the hardware wallet itself. The purpose of such a display is to allow verification if the hardware wallet received proper transaction details from the computer where your software wallet component resides.

Never store or enter your mnemonic recovery words on an online device or website. Period!