A new specimen of “infostealer” malware offers a disturbing feature: It monitors a target’s browser for NSFW content, then takes simultaneous screenshots and webcam photos of the victim.
Sextortion-based hacking, which hijacks a victim’s webcam or blackmails them with nudes they’re tricked or coerced into sharing, has long represented one of the most disturbing forms of cybercrime. Now one specimen of widely available spyware has turned that relatively manual crime into an automated feature, detecting when the user is browsing pornography on their PC, screenshotting it, and taking a candid photo of the victim through their webcam.
On Wednesday, researchers at security firm Proofpoint published their analysis of an open-source variant of “infostealer” malware known as Stealerium that the company has seen used in multiple cybercriminal campaigns since May of this year. The malware, like all infostealers, is designed to infect a target’s computer and automatically send a hacker a wide variety of stolen sensitive data, including banking information, usernames and passwords, and keys to victims’ crypto wallets. Stealerium, however, adds another, more humiliating form of espionage: It also monitors the victim’s browser for web addresses that include certain…
Sextortion has been on the rise, and sadly, PFR are not treated as victims when they fall prey to it. This leads to lack of reporting and an increase in the potential for self-harm or successful extortion. If this happens to a PFR the threats can be elevated due to the threats of prison or of fabricated allegations. PFR are sadly the perfect target for this type of extortion, and that should be recognized by law enforcement and politicians.