Watch Out: Virus Detected in Software Downloaded Over 1 Billion Times, Theft Alert for Cryptocurrency Owners

Ledger's CTO, Charles Guillemet, warned of a large-scale cyberattack that could directly impact the cryptocurrency market.

“A respected developer's NPM account was compromised, and packages distributed through that account have been downloaded over 1 billion times. This puts the entire JavaScript ecosystem at risk,” Guillemet said.

According to details of the attack, the malware attempts to steal users' funds by silently changing crypto addresses. This method, known as a “crypto-clipper,” specifically targets software wallet users.

Guillemet argued that hardware wallet users are safe if they carefully check addresses before signing transactions, but software wallet users should avoid on-chain transactions for now. It's also unclear whether attackers are directly stealing seed phrases from software wallets.

Here are some suggestions for developers:

• Fix the error-ex package to version 1.3.2 (using the overrides property in package.json).
• Prefer npm ci command instead of npm install in your build processes.
• Be sure to check the addresses before making any transactions.

*This is not investment advice.