New malware is spreading across the Czech Republic at lightning speed, security experts warn of threat to Windows !
Security experts warn that a new downloader called Agent.RWL has become widespread in the Czech Republic in recent weeks. A few months ago, no one had heard of it, but according to antivirus company Eset, it is now the biggest threat to the Windows operating system.
This malware is spreading unusually fast and is currently responsible for one in three attacks on Windows in the Czech Republic. No other malicious code has attacked Microsoft’s operating systems so frequently in the last month.
Downloaders are a type of malware that serves as a platform for spreading other viruses on the infected system. Agent.RWL is a highly advanced malicious code. Once it infects a computer, it downloads more malicious code from Google Drive. Martin Jirkal, head of the analysis team at Eset’s Prague research office, pointed out that this malware contains a so-called killswitch, a feature that can stop the infection on the system. This measure is used by malware authors to protect their own devices from infection.
Most of the activity was recorded in the first half of the month, particularly on May 10 and 13, when Agent.RWL targeted Czech users via email attachments with names such as “order_Sollau-000000035_24_826_MBZ_100524_N_200.hta” or “1751155914_456409723_KHI_CZ_240506_0946_P.hta”. The .HTA extensions are used for applications that combine HTML features with other scripting languages, and users should exercise caution when opening such files, as they do with .EXE extension attachments.
If you find an executable file in an e-mail attachment, whether it has a .EXE or .HTA extension, you should not open it and should delete such e-mails immediately. This is because malicious code is most often spread via executable files in unsolicited emails, a problem that News has pointed out before.
The security expert added that they will continue to keep an eye out for a new, improved version of this malware. However, the high number of interceptions from May already shows how important it is not to underestimate computer security.
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