Don't let Pennywise catch you

After my unfortunate experience that led to at least $10k worth of assets being cleaned out of my wallet, I have become easily triggered by news concerning security. That is why when I stumbled into this bit about a malware called Pennywise, I was very interesting.

The report states that Pennywise is malware that latches onto a couple of applications and wallets to steal information.

Data stolen from the victim's system comes in the form of Chromium and Mozilla browser information, including cryptocurrency extension data and login data. It can also take screenshots and steal sessions of chat applications such as Discord and Telegram.

This is why I always encourage people to take their crypto security seriously. In fact, your crypto security is probably the most important aspect of your crypto adventure.

Where does Pennywise come from?

The report states that the Pennywise malware originates from a number of videos doing rounds on Youtube. Apparently, the scammers tell you to download a "bitcoin mining application" that actually just mines your data.

Get this though, the application requires the victims to deactivate their antivirus before it can be installed. That right there is a red flag to me.

According to Cyble, Pennywise uses a multithreading approach to steal your data.

Multithreading is the ability of a program or an operating system to enable more than one user at a time without requiring multiple copies of the program running on the computer. Multithreading can also handle multiple requests from the same user._source

The Pennywise application that was built using an unknown crypter creates numerous threads that facilitate the stealing of the victims' data.

Don't be caught napping

Right now, I'm at this stage where I don't use my work laptop for anything other than work. The only websites outside Hive that I open are news websites where I read about Pennywise and new developments in the crypto industry.

To prevent yourself from being a victim of Pennywise or any other malware threat, you have to compartmentalize. Have a work laptop and ONLY use it for work. Other steps that you can take to protect yourself include;

• Don't download cracked software from Torrent or otherwise into your work laptop
• Only visit websites you know and trust
• Never turn off your antivirus to install or use specific applications.
• Use a hardware wallet where applicable
• If it seems too good to be true, it is too good to be true

There are bad actors lurking in the background and waiting for an opportunity to steal your assets. Prioritise your security and don't take any chances because one wrong step is all it takes to lose everything you've worked hard to grow.

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