Alert ! Websites offer to download versions of Windows 11 for even incompatible PCs. But beware! These are files infected with dangerous malware that allow hackers to plunder all personal data.
With the technical restrictions imposed by Microsoft, not all PCs can run Windows 11. A boon for hackers of all kinds who lack neither imagination, nor talent, nor creativity to trap users left behind. and eager to install the new system on their machine anyway, whatever the cost. Alas, the operation can be expensive. This is what cybersecurity researchers from CloudSEK have just revealed. They have update a website in all respects resembling that of Microsoft (design, photo, typo, etc.). On one of the pages, there is the option Get Windows 11 (Get Windows 11) associated with a classic button Download (To download).
Tantalizing. Except that it is in no way an official version of the system in the form of an ISO image but a file hosting a rather dangerous malware: Inno Stealer. By launching the fake Windows11-setup.exe program, we start the installation of the malicious software which takes place at system startup. This is followed by a deactivation of Windows protection tools and then a proper looting of the personal data contained in the computer: identifiers, passwords, cookies and above all, the security key of cryptocurrency wallets. A rather formidable method to empty your precious savings in Etherum or Bitcoins contained in wallets (portfolios) such as Brave, Wasabi, Bisq, Ronin or even Electrum with which Inno Stealer seems rather comfortable.
Fake website: a method that always works
This is not the first time that fake websites using the graphic codes of the original site have flourished on the web. A few months ago, hackers had copied Microsoft’s download page to include a fake version of a Windows 11 update, this time presenting the RedLine malware capable of stealing usernames and passwords saved in web browsers as well as credit card numbers (see our article). As for the Windows 11 update files made available all over the web, many of them are also said to be infected.
Caution is therefore still in order. If your PC is compatible with the new system, there’s no need to scour the web to get an ISO image of the system faster. Several official methods are available to take advantage of it without risk by going through Windows Update or by downloading an official ISO file from the Microsoft site (read our practical sheet). As for installing Windows 11 on an unofficially supported PC, there are also risk-free methods as we discuss them here.