Hackers are preying on people working from home for passwords stored in web browsers, experts claim.
Keeping passwords saved in the likes of Chrome and Edge are pretty common practice and usually considered quite safe.
They are designed to take the hassle out of remembering login details for every site you use.
But now IT researchers are cautioning against using such features in any browser over a recent security breach that compromised a company.
Bad actors appear to be exploiting the fact office workers in the UK and US are being forced to work from home amid the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
According to security experts AhnLab, an employee working remotely fell victim as they used a VPN to access their company’s network.
The person was innocently doing their job on a device shared with others they live with, unaware it was already infected with a nasty piece of info-stealing malware called Redline Stealer.
This led to sensitive account details and passwords from various sites being stolen, including information to access the company’s VPN.
Hackers then used it to login and pry on the private business data three months later.
And worse still, the computer had antivirus software installed but the malware was able to get around it.
“Although the account credentials storing feature of browsers is very convenient, as there is a risk of leakage of account credentials upon malware infection, users are recommended to refrain from using it and only use programs from clear sources,” AhnLab said.
Redline Stealer is pretty cheap and easy to get hold of on the dark web, which means it’s hard to trace the incident back to a specific group.
It costs as little as $150 to get hold off.
The malicious tool first appeared in March 2020, right as the pandemic began to spread.
It comes amid a huge spike in scams over the course of COVID-19’s unwelcome arrival.
Millions were targeted by COVID Pass scams conning people out of money and sensitive data, while phony jabs have also been rife.
