Varenyky malware which is new to the online world is found to be infecting French Orange customers for now and is said to have already victimized more than 1400 people so far through phishing email attacks.
Security researchers at ESET have revealed that the said malware has the potential to take S#$tortion to a new level where customers are left with no other option rather than to pay for their deeds.
According to the update available to Cybersecurity Insiders, Varenyky infects computers through MS Word document file and then lies dormant till the victim visits an X- rated site. And as soon as he/she does so, the malevolent software starts recording the event and then the video file is used to extort money from the victim for not disclosing their embarrassing online practice to the world.
A source from Forbes says that the malware is loaded by sending out a fake invoice of Microsoft Word to Orange Customers as an email attachment. And as soon the victim opens the file, the macros file gets executed and first checks whether the victim knows French or not.
If the customer doesn’t know, then it simply creeps out of the infected PC without leaving a trial. But if the virus has hit the right computer then it checks back with the Command and Control servers to determine what elements of malware have to be downloaded and then executes further macros to install software that can siphon passwords and starts spying on the PC screen with the help of FFmpeg software.
Here, the point to be noted is that the recording starts only when the victim punches in some keywords related to adult content and websites like P-Hub and B$#zers.
Details on how many of them have paid to those related to this S#$tortion campaign is yet to be known. But the malware is reported to have capabilities such as screen recording, stealing credentials and data from the hard disks or SSDs on the computer.
Note- Orange is a telecommunication company headquartered in Paris and is reported to have over 256 million customers on a worldwide note offering services such as IPTV, Internet, Landline, and mobile communication.
