These YouTube gaming videos are spreading malware TechRadar Skip to main content TechRadar is supported by its audience. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here's why you can trust us. These YouTube gaming videos are spreading malware By Sead Fadilpašić published 16 September 2022 Self-seeding malware spreading through malicious YouTube videos (Image credit: Shutterstock) Audio player loading… A newly discovered malicious campaign that distributes the RedLine Stealer infostealer comes with a very interesting self-propagation mechanism, researchers have found. Cybersecurity experts from Kaspersky uncovered new malware (opens in new tab) that logs into the YouTube accounts of compromised users and uploads a video to their channel, which distributes RedLine Infostealer. A victim, ideally a PC gamer, finds a YouTube video on cracks, or cheats, for one of their favorite games: either FIFA, Final Fantasy, Forza Horizon, Lego Star Wars, or Spider-Man. In the video's description are links that claim to hold those cracks and cheats which, in fact, host multiple malware bundled together. Cryptojackers infostealers In the bundle is RedLine Stealer, one of the most popular infostealers nowadays, capable of stealing (opens in new tab) passwords stored in people's browsers, cookies, credit card details, instant messaging conversations, and cryptocurrency wallets. The bundle also holds a cryptojacker, essentially a cryptocurrency miner which uses the computing power of the compromised endpoint to mine certain cryptocurrency for the attackers. Cryptocurrency mining usually requires significant GPU power, something most gamers usually have. But perhaps most interestingly, the bundle has three malicious executables, used for self-propagation. These are called "MakiseKurisu.exe", "download.exe", and "upload.exe". MakiseKurisu is an infostealer that grabs browser cookies and stores them locally. Read more> A nasty new infostealer malware is landing in email inboxes > Here's another good reason not to download pirated software > Protect against DDoS attacks with these solutions (opens in new tab) Then, download.exe would grab the fake crack video from a GitHub repository, and hand it over to upload.exe, which would upload it to the victim's YouTube account, after using cookies to log in. If the victim isn't an avid YouTube user, or has notifications turned off, there is a good chance the malicious video could sit on their YouTube channel for a long time, before being taken down. "When the video is successfully uploaded to YouTube, upload.exe sends a message to Discord with a link to the uploaded video," Kaspersky explains.Here's our rundown of the best firewalls (opens in new tab) available now Via: BleepingComputer (opens in new tab) Sead Fadilpašić Sead is a seasoned freelance journalist based in Sarajevo, Bosnia and Herzegovina. He writes about IT (cloud, IoT, 5G, VPN) and cybersecurity (ransomware, data breaches, laws and regulations). In his career, spanning more than a decade, he's written for numerous media outlets, including Al Jazeera Balkans. He's also held several modules on content writing for Represent Communications. See more Computing news Are you a pro? Subscribe to our newsletter Sign up to theTechRadar Pro newsletter to get all the top news, opinion, features and guidance your business needs to succeed! Thank you for signing up to TechRadar. You will receive a verification email shortly. There was a problem. Please refresh the page and try again. MOST POPULARMOST SHARED1I tried the weirdest-looking Bluetooth speaker in the world, and I utterly adore it2You may not have to sell a body part to afford the Nvidia RTX 4090 after all3My days as a helpful meat shield are over, thanks to the Killer Klown horror game4100% on Rotten Tomatoes: 7 new critically-acclaimed dramas you may have missed5I won't buy the Google Pixel 7 unless it fixes these three Pixel 6 problems1We finally know what 'Wi-Fi' stands for - and it's not what you think2Best laptops for designers and coders 3Miofive 4K Dash Cam review4Logitech's latest webcam and headset want to relieve your work day frustrations5Best offers on Laptops for Education – this festive season Technology Magazines (opens in new tab)● (opens in new tab)The best tech tutorials and in-depth reviewsFrom$12.99 (opens in new tab)View (opens in new tab)