• @d00ery
    link
    English
    26
    edit-2
    1 day ago

    Soon it became dangerous to download the movie, though, as popular demand for the movie quickly put a target on downloaders’ backs and scammers soon planted malware in Spider-Man movie torrents that ReasonLabs reported used the movie to “lure in as many victims as possible.”

    ReasonLabs said that the malware was “likely from a Russian torrenting site.” It took over the would-be Spider-Man movie watchers’ computers without setting off Windows Defender and with the goal of cryptomining in the background for the bad actors’ benefit.

    How does a video file contain malware. Or are people running exe files to watch a video?

    • CaptainBasculin
      link
      fedilink
      English
      171 day ago

      Some players might have vulnerabilities that people exploit; but honestly it’s very rare, especially with most people auto updating their programs.

      Most of the time it is indeed “download spider man no virus no survey 2023 free download.exe”

      • @Duamerthrax
        link
        English
        24 hours ago

        tldr: people using Windows can get duped

        Truth.

    • @finitebanjo
      link
      English
      41 day ago

      The video itself is a set of instructions, and when a video player interprets those instructions there is a window of opportunity.