{"id":96552,"date":"2018-01-16T11:17:40","date_gmt":"2018-01-16T11:17:40","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/sftarticles.wpenginepowered.com\/en\/?p=96552"},"modified":"2025-07-01T23:41:35","modified_gmt":"2025-07-02T06:41:35","slug":"watch-out-for-fake-spectre-and-meltdown-patches-infected-with-smoke-loader-malware","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/watch-out-for-fake-spectre-and-meltdown-patches-infected-with-smoke-loader-malware\/","title":{"rendered":"Watch out for fake Spectre and Meltdown patches infected with Smoke Loader malware"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities that affect almost all processors on the planet<\/strong> have been dominating the news recently. We\u2019ve heard about the patches that might slow down PCs<\/a> and a Google patch<\/a> that might have a negligible effect on PC performance. Well now we have something else to worry about as it seems that there are fake Spectre and Meltdown patches out there that come loaded with malware<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n \"Malwarebytes\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n Malwarebytes Anti-Malware<\/span>\r\n Download malware protection now<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n <\/path><\/path>8<\/text><\/svg>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n <\/span>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n \r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n

The warning comes from cyber security experts at Malwarebytes<\/strong>. Victims find themselves redirected to a site that looks legitimate and is filled with \u201cuseful\u201d information<\/strong> about how Spectre and Meltdown affect computer processors.<\/p>\n

\"\"
(Via: Malwarebytes<\/a>)\u00a0 The fake German site looks serious and credible<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

All of this is designed to make users feel comfortable enough to click the link and download the patch offered<\/strong>, which will have dire consequences<\/strong>. Malwarebytes researcher, J\u00e9r\u00f4me Segura said<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cUpon running it, users will infect themselves with Smoke Loader, a piece of malware that can retrieve additional payloads\u2026 Post-infection traffic shows the malicious file attempting to connect to various domains and sending encrypted information.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Once installed the Smoke Loader malware <\/strong>can\u00a0download more malware<\/strong> onto the victim\u2019s computer and send back personal information to remote servers<\/strong>.<\/p>\n

\r\n
\r\n
\r\n
\r\n \"Malwarebytes\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n Malwarebytes Anti-Malware<\/span>\r\n Download malware protection now<\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n <\/path><\/path>8<\/text><\/svg>\r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n <\/span>\r\n <\/div>\r\n
\r\n \r\n <\/div>\r\n <\/a>\r\n <\/div>\r\n<\/div>\n

Although this particular site was aimed at German users, by mimicking a German government website, fake websites pushing fake patches, updates, and fixes are a threat to us all<\/strong>. Malwarebytes\u2019 Segura went on to offer this advice<\/a>:<\/p>\n

\u201cOnline criminals are notorious for taking advantage of publicized events and rapidly exploiting them, typically via phishing campaigns. This particular one is interesting because people were told to apply a patch, which is exactly what the crooks are offering under disguise.<\/em><\/p>\n

It\u2019s always important to be cautious, especially when urged to perform an action (i.e. calling Microsoft on a toll-free number, or updating a piece of software) because there\u2019s a chance that such requests are fake and intended to either scam you or infect your computer. There are very few legitimate cases when vendors will directly contact you to apply updates. If that is the case, it\u2019s always good to verify this information via other online resources or friends first.<\/em><\/p>\n

Also, remember that sites using HTTPS aren\u2019t necessarily trustworthy. The presence of a certificate simply implies that the data that transits between your computer and the site is secure, but that has nothing to do with the intentions or content offered, which could be a total scam.\u201d<\/em><\/p>\n

Be careful when downloading anything<\/strong> and always double-check the source<\/strong> of the download.<\/p>\n

Let us know your experiences with Spectre and Meltdown in the comments below.<\/p>\n

Follow me on Twitter:\u00a0@PatrickDevaney_<\/b><\/span><\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Via: Malwarebytes<\/a>, Security Boulevard<\/a> and betanews<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities that affect almost all processors on the planet have been dominating the news recently. We\u2019ve heard about the patches that might slow down PCs and a Google patch that might have a negligible effect on PC performance. Well now we have something else to worry about as it seems that … Continue reading “Watch out for fake Spectre and Meltdown patches infected with Smoke Loader malware”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9073,"featured_media":96554,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","wpcf-pageviews":1},"categories":[],"tags":[],"usertag":[],"vertical":[],"content-category":[],"class_list":["post-96552","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96552","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/9073"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=96552"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96552\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":328354,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/96552\/revisions\/328354"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/96554"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=96552"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=96552"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=96552"},{"taxonomy":"usertag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/usertag?post=96552"},{"taxonomy":"vertical","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/vertical?post=96552"},{"taxonomy":"content-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cms-articles.softonic.io\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/content-category?post=96552"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}