2017 has been the year where phenomenal technological advancement has also posed major security threats to the users.
Earlier this year, the WannaCry ransomware caused global panic when it hit major and small companies in a reported over 150 countries including some in Africa.
Automaker Nissan had to temporarily shut down some of its subsidiary plants that manufacture their Renault car brand, after they were hit by the WannaCry ransomware.
Also Read: Hackers Steal Data for Over 143 Million Americans
As the world gets over WannaCry, news is circulating the web that Ccleaner a very famous free desktop maintenance software by Avast (antivirus software company) has been compromised.
According to researchers and investigators, over 2 million users that installed Ccleaner between August 15th and September 12th 2017 might be affected by the malware.
The malware that is being transmitted through a downloadable copy of Ccleaner sends information from the user’s computers and back to the servers of whoever hacked the system. It is said that this exploitation could do more than just share the user’s information but so far nothing more than that has been reported.
The malicious malware was somehow injected into the downloadable copy of Ccleaner and investigators are yet to identify whether Avast was hacked or it was an inside job.
The remedy right now is to install the latest Ccleaner from the Piriform website. Piriform was the original developer of Ccleaner before Avast acquired it in July 2017. Ccleaner is used by over 130 million people worldwide. Or alternatively, you can just delete the software and forget about this problem once and for all.
Author: Ian Paul Byamugisha
Ian Paul Byamugisha is a writer/author/novelist and car journalist. As a writer for Newslibre, he writes car reviews, cars news, tech news and anything that one might find interesting to read. He’s currently working on a spy novel collection titled “Arthur Vintage” and has blog too.
