Your computer: don’t repeat Binance’s mistake
Lesson 9 of 16 in the course “Cybersecurity from Scratch”. Free, with animations and a quiz.
How computers get infected
Binance hasn’t disclosed how exactly the engineer’s laptop was hacked, so we won’t guess. But the ways ordinary people’s computers get infected are well known. Cracked programs, games and cheats with a stealer inside. An attachment or link in an email that rushes you. A “test task” or a code package from a stranger. And a command someone asked you to paste and run. Every one of these needs you to launch something yourself.
Infostealers: in with no password and no 2FA
An infostealer is malware that grabs saved passwords, wallet files and session cookies from a computer in seconds. A session cookie is the “pass” a site gives you after login so it doesn’t ask for the password again. With it, an attacker enters your account as you, and 2FA isn’t even asked. These logs are sold on underground markets. Most often a stealer hides in cracked software and cheats, exactly where Dan got his “free” Photoshop.
The fake CAPTCHA
A popular new trick: a site shows a “verify you are human” check and asks you to press Win+R, then Ctrl+V and Enter. While you were reading, the site already put a malicious command in your clipboard, and you run it yourself. On a Mac they ask you to open Terminal and paste a line. No real CAPTCHA ever asks you to press anything in your system. Iron rule: never paste or run commands someone sent you or a site showed you unless you understand every character.
Setting up your laptop in one evening
Turn on automatic OS and browser updates. Turn on disk encryption: FileVault on Mac, BitLocker or Device Encryption on Windows. Then a stolen laptop without the password is just hardware. Work under a standard account, not an admin one, so a program can’t change the system without your permission. No cracked software. Minimal browser extensions and a separate browser profile just for your bank and exchange. Dan deleted his pirated Photoshop and installed a free alternative.
Check yourself
- Why doesn’t 2FA save you if there’s an infostealer on your computer?
Correct answer: It steals session cookies, and the site treats the attacker as you, already logged in. A session cookie is the post-login “pass”. With it, no password or 2FA is asked. That’s why a clean computer matters as much as a strong password. - A site asks you to “verify you’re human”: press Win+R, Ctrl+V and Enter. What is it?
Correct answer: An attack: you’d run a malicious command from your clipboard yourself. A real CAPTCHA never asks you to press system keys. Close the tab. - What does disk encryption (FileVault, BitLocker) do?
Correct answer: Without the password nobody can read the data on a stolen laptop. If the laptop is stolen or lost, the disk without the password is meaningless bytes.
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