To test the speed of each torrent client (in other words, the most important BitTorrent vs uTorrent discussion), we decided to download a popular, totally legal torrent from the Vuze StudioHD Network:
The updater also downloads and runs a modified Transmission torrent client, which sends the ID of the targeted computer along with install details to the command-and-control server (C2), and then downloads the miner, Kaspersky said.
Total Miner Torrent Download
When you download torrents (leeching), your torrent client also shares (seeds) content for others to download. You may be threatened with legal action or a fine if you are caught distributing copyrighted material, which is illegal in most countries.
In terms of risk, uTorrent and BitTorrent are just as safe as each other. And just like uTorrent, BitTorrent also features ads. However, Bittorrent manages its ads better, resulting in faster download speeds.
In a new report, the ReasonLabs research team says it found Monero miners attached to Russian torrent files of the new film, which brought in more than $750 million worldwide since it debuted last week.
"The malware is not signed and written in .net, and as of this date, it is not present in Virus Total. The malware tries to stay away from examining eyes, by using 'legitimate' names for the files and processes that it creates. We recommend taking extra caution when downloading content of any kind from non-official sources -- whether it's a document in an email from an unknown sender, a cracked program from a fishy download portal, or a file from a torrent download," the team explained.
The file also contains a real torrent download, so the user will not suspect that something malicious has occurred. When the user clicks on download torrent0.torrent file, the actual XMR miner starts to run in the background.
qBittorrent is developed in C++ / Qt 5 toolkit (software for creating GUI and cross-platform apps) and the libtorrent-rasterbar library (an alternative library to other BitTorrent implementations). It is known for its built-in torrent search engine (written in Python and installed via search plugins), which lets you search for your torrents in your favorite torrent indexers and download them, all from the same place.
All the qBittorrent client versions (Windows, macOS, Linux, FreeBSD, and OS/2) can be used with a torrent proxy. qBittorrent comes with in-client support for SOCKS5 and HTTP proxies. Proxies are an excellent way to hide your local IP and remain anonymous while torrenting. When you configure qBittorrent with a proxy, all your BitTorrent traffic gets re-routed through the proxy server; the traffic receives a new IP and uses this IP on the torrent swarm. A proxy does not encrypt traffic as VPNs do. It masks the IP and is generally faster for downloading torrents (VPNs vs. proxies).
qBittorrent is also the most popular download in FussHub. Fusshub is a website and platform that offers free, popular, and clean applications (free from adware, spyware, bundles, and malware). It does not bombard its visitors with ads; they just have a single ad on top of its download page.
According to the FussHub website, qBittorrent is the top application with the most downloads (133,001,995) as of May 2022. To compare qBittorrent with other torrent clients, Deluge has 23K, Tixati 7.5K, and BitComet 230K downloads.
As a protocol, BitTorrent is legal to use, but how you use it can determine everything in the legal context. You can legally download the free Ubuntu Linux distributions (offered via alternative torrent downloads), distribute your own creations, or push updates to your large distribution of global servers. Do all of these, and qBittorrent is safe and legal. But use qBittorrent to download copyright material, and you are using the torrent client for illegal activity.
qBittorrent can be unsafe when you download from untrusted sources, but the same goes for your trusted web browser or cloud-based file sharing system. Public torrent trackers are generally unsafe places to download content. First, they can be nests of malware and viruses, as torrent creators can easily upload viruses masked like a movie, software, or song. And second, public trackers are more frequently monitored by copyright agencies. On the other hand, private trackers are closed communities with rich (and niche) media libraries, strict enrollment policies, and firm sharing ratio requirements. Private tracker communities tend to invite and know their members and content.
To maximize their number of potential victims, cybercriminals are hiding their scam schemes on trending topics and events. Most recently, they uploaded a Monero miner code on a torrent download file for the movie "Spider-Man: No Way Home."
Experts from ReasonLabs reported the details of this malware attack on December 23. They said the torrent file for the movie download is named "spiderman_net_putidomoi.torrent.exe" in Russian, which translates to "spiderman_no_wayhome.torrent.exe" in English. The file name led experts to believe that the malware first came out from a Russian torrenting website.
Bitcoin Core requires a one-time download of about 500GB of data plus a further 5-10GB per month. By default, you will need to store all of that data, but if you enable pruning, you can store as little as 6GB total without sacrificing any security. For more information about setting up Bitcoin Core, please read the full node guide.
nzb360 is a torrent app that also supports a bunch of services. Some services on the list include uTorrent, qBittorrent, Deluge, SABnzbd, NZBget, and a bunch of others. The app has a steeper learning curve and requires some things like login information. However, once configured, you can manage things like Sonarr, Radarr, etc without any issues. The torrent downloading portion of it is secondary to most of the other functions, but this is a great alternative to a lot of stuff.
tTorrent is one of the most popular torrent apps. It has a bunch of features and that includes most of the basics. It downloads torrents, lets you change download settings, and supports magnet links and other protocols. The app even has encryption and a web interface with support for Transdrone and Transdroid. The UI is modern and simple. Even the pro version is cheaper than average at $1.99. It just ticks all the boxes without complicating things too much.
The main target of Crackonosh was the installation of the coinminer XMRig, from all the wallets we found, there was one where we were able to find statistics. The pool sites showed payments of 9000 XMR in total, that is with today prices over $2,000,000 USD.
Miner files are in data_installer.pkg inside the downloaded application package. data_installer.pkg is installed first, then the VST software. Before installation, version 1 of the miner is removed along with executing the command:
Recently, Cyble Research & Intelligence Labs (CRIL) identified several phishing campaigns targeting MSI Afterburner software to deliver coin-miner malware. The TAs behind these campaigns used sophisticated phishing pages that mimic the legitimate MSI Afterburner site to lure the users into downloading coin-miner malware that performs the crypto-mining process. The TA hosted a phishing site to deliver the payload of coin-miner malware bundled with legitimate MSI Afterburner installers. 2ff7e9595c
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