Raccoons! Trash pandas! Mother Nature’s bandits. Those sneaky little devils. They’ll be the ruination of us all! Okay, maybe not, but there is a new version of Raccoon Stealer that is making the rounds, and it’s proving to be far more dangerous than the fuzzy bundles of chaos who constantly turn over your garbage cans.
The original Raccoon Stealer that launched in 2019 (via malware-as-a-service channels) was INCREDIBLY versatile. It could steal things like browser passwords, cookies, autofill data, and credit card numbers. You name it. If it was stored in your browser, and you were infected, Raccoon Stealer v1 could grab it.
When the development of Raccoon Stealer abruptly stopped in March of this year (2022), researchers knew it was only a matter of time before something new and improved took its place. That time is now, and Raccoon Stealer v2 is a doozy.
Not only can Raccoon Stealer v2 do all the things its predecessor could and more including:
- Data Harvesting – Version 1 was limited to individual files. Version 2 can steal any file on any disk.
- Application Logging – the malware captures a list of every application installed on the machine, helping the attacker learn what type of data files might be available to steal.
- Screen Capturing – There are LOADS of ways screen captures could be used nefariously. You could take a picture of payment information as it’s entered. Any type of sensitive data could be captured via screen capture.
How to Protect Yourself
So…this is going to sound really repetitive. Stop me if you’ve heard it before… Raccoon Stealer v2 installs/infects just like every other malware under the sun: via Phishing attacks.
If you’ve fallen out of your seat due to pure shock, I understand. Take the time you need to reconstitute yourself and we’ll move on. Ready? Good.
Phishing attacks (or Phishing in general) is a type of Social Engineering Attack where individuals are targeted by email (or in some cases text messages). The attacker masquerades as someone else (a co-worker, manager, or individual from an outside organization) to manipulate their target.
