Fake CCleaner installs GhostDesk Chrome spyware


A fake version of the popular PC cleaning tool CCleaner is being used to infect Windows users with a malicious Chrome extension called GhostDesk, which acts as spyware inside the browser.

With more than 2 billion downloads worldwide, CCleaner is one of the best-known Windows utilities, making it an attractive target for cybercriminals looking to distribute malware.

The attack starts with a website that is a convincing imitation of the CCleaner download page. Once installed, the fake application launches an attack that modifies Chrome, installs malicious extension components, and gives attackers the ability to steal credentials, capture screenshots, and log keystrokes.

The fake application likely uses the guise of a PC cleaner to make its file and system activity appear less suspicious.

Read more…
Source:  Malware Bytes Labs


Sign up for the Cyber Security Review Newsletter
The latest cyber security news and insights delivered right to your inbox


Related:

  • Attackers target critical FortiSandbox flaws as CISA issues patch order

    July 17, 2026

    Fortinet admins have two more reasons to clear their calendars after CISA confirmed a pair of critical FortiSandbox bugs are being actively exploited. The two bugs, tracked as CVE-2026-39808 and CVE-2026-25089, both carry CVSS scores of 9.1 and affect FortiSandbox, FortiSandbox Cloud, and FortiSandbox PaaS. According to Fortinet, they are OS command injection flaws that allow ...

  • GoSerpent: a persistent threat evolves with sophisticated data collection and exfiltration

    July 16, 2026

    In February 2026, Kaspersky discovered a set of malicious activities that had been ongoing since late 2025. These activities involved a RAT module written in Go with proxy capabilities, which served as the main stage of the attack. The attack targeted government and diplomatic entities in Southeast Asia and showed a level of sophistication that ...

  • Tech support scam caused massive data breach at Australian airline Qantas

    July 16, 2026

    Australia’s Privacy Commissioner has revealed a tech support scam was the cause of the massive 2025 data breach at Australian airline Qantas and found the carrier didn’t breach its privacy obligations despite leaking personally identifiable information for 5.7 million customers. The Commissioner reached that conclusion, and a decision not to open a formal privacy probe, in ...

  • This fake Apple app can unlock your Mac’s password vault

    July 15, 2026

    CrashStealer is a new macOS infostealer that masquerades as Apple’s CrashReporter component, uses an Apple‑notarized installer to slip past Gatekeeper, tricks users into handing over their password, and then systematically loots browsers, password managers, crypto wallets, and Keychain secrets before exfiltrating them in AES‑encrypted bundles. Researchers have been following the development of CrashStealer since May 2026. It ...

  • New phishing campaign hits LastPass, Bitwarden users

    July 15, 2026

    Criminals have been found impersonating popular password managers LastPass and Bitwarden online in an attempt to trick users into sharing their login credentials, and thus access to a treasure trove of passwords and other secrets. LastPass recently issued a warning to its customers, raising awareness of the ongoing phishing campaign. However the scam also now seems to ...

  • Top AI tools such as OpenClaw and Github Copilot can be hijacked to create new massive botnets

    July 15, 2026

    Your favorite AI service could be subverted to deploy code that turns your phone or PC into a botnet, according to researchers at Intuit, Technion, and Tel Aviv University. The technique has been given the name HalluSquatting, a portmanteau of adversarial hallucination squatting, and is similar to typosquatting in that it relies on a mistake in ...