- #Piriform com ccleaner download update#
- #Piriform com ccleaner download code#
- #Piriform com ccleaner download download#
As Talos describes in its breakdown of the malware attack, it first lays dormant to avoid automated detection systems, before checking to see if it has admin access. The payload for this malware attack has several tasks once installed. “It was a very sophisticated hack, and I think the fact that it existed for 22 days without detection by anyone just shows how sophisticated it was.” “We’ve never detected that second stage being activated, so we do not believe it ever was,” Steckler added.
#Piriform com ccleaner download code#
To make matters worse, the nature of the attack “indicates that attackers were able to control a critical piece of infrastructure used by the vendor.” In other words, the hackers likely had broad access to CCleaner’s systems.įortunately, the code was detected before it ever had the chance to hijack vulnerable computers, according to Steckler. “This is sort of a holy grail for malware authors because they can efficiently distribute their malware, hide it in a trusted channel, and reach a potentially large number of users,” he said.
#Piriform com ccleaner download update#
Marco Cova, senior security researcher at Lastline, told Digital Trends that this “is an example of a software supply chain attack, where an otherwise trusted software vendor gets compromised and the update mechanism of the programs they distribute is leveraged to distribute malware.”Īccording to Cova, an attack like this is among the most damaging.
![piriform com ccleaner download piriform com ccleaner download](http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UWbb1L6KI8k/TWgs2TLSg3I/AAAAAAAAACA/OfPV4k9bN58/s1600/ccleaner.jpg)
#Piriform com ccleaner download download#
Whether it’s hijacking legitimate distribution accounts, or in this case the download servers themselves, it leaves the victims vulnerable to infection even if they observe proper personal security practices.
![piriform com ccleaner download piriform com ccleaner download](https://uploads.tapatalk-cdn.com/20170420/c7e23b63ea6b24e2c33a52237c730860.jpg)
So that deactivated, or rendered meaningless any of this code - then we could safely go out and make an announcement,” Steckler said.Īlthough malware of all types is most commonly spread through phishing attacks like infected attachments and phony links, a tactic that is seeing a lot of success is the infection of trusted platforms. “We started working with law enforcement on late Tuesday afternoon, and we got the server shut down on Friday of last week. “The malicious code was a two-stage code, that is it has a rather innocuous component that transmitted some very basic non-personal data, but there was a second stage which allowed the server to transmit any executable to CCleaner for execution, and that’s the dangerous part,” Steckler said.Īfter finding it and getting the server shut down, Avast could safely announce what had happened without endangering vulnerable customers. Once the code was detected, Avast had to keep it under wraps so the culprit was unaware the company was on to the malware infection.
![piriform com ccleaner download piriform com ccleaner download](https://www.techyv.com/sites/default/files/Priform-ccleaner.jpg)
Which, of course, we don’t own that server - it was part of a server farm - so we had to work with law enforcement to get that server shut down,” Avast CEO Vince Steckler told Digital Trends.
![piriform com ccleaner download piriform com ccleaner download](https://1.bp.blogspot.com/-UHx_-vc392Q/XxqOtLDI3gI/AAAAAAAAinM/LVXNDNw_OdIoIU2PAmQ1q-nfwmRdQJPkQCLcBGAsYHQ/s1600/ccleanerprofessionalv5.69licensekey.png)
“CCleaner is not a product that could be remotely updated like the other Avast products, which means in order to quote ‘fix’ it, we had to shut down the server that it was communicating with. Avast was made aware of the malicious code on September 12, but had to act quickly and covertly to neutralize the threat. Thankfully, if you update your CCleaner to the latest version, you should be fine. It appears to have been an exploit of the CCleaner installer’s download server, meaning that whenever anyone downloaded the software via official means, they also unwittingly downloaded a piece of malware. Fitbit Versa 3įor about 22 days, the CCleaner system maintenance application distributed malware through its official channels.