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September 19, 2017 - If you are one of the millions of people who use CCleaner to keep your Windows computer running smoothly, you may be at risk to have your data stolen by hackers. The company that makes the software - Piriform - has announced that certain versions of the software have been hacked. Specifically, someone managed to sneak malicious code into the software prior to the time it was distributed. That code creates a back door for hackers to communicate with computers running CCleaner and gain access to data stored on them.
According to information released by Piriform, "we saw an unknown IP address receiving data from software found in version 5.33.6162 of CCleaner, and CCleaner Cloud version 1.07.3191, on 32-bit Windows systems. Based on further analysis, we found that the 5.33.6162 version of CCleaner and the 1.07.3191 version of CCleaner Cloud was illegally modified before it was released to the public, and we started an investigation process."
The company is currently working with law enforcement to try to determine how the software modification was made and to find out who made it.
Anyone who is running CCleaner needs to update the software immediately. Those running the company's cloud based version have already been updated automatically. But those running the computer based version can update their software here. After the update, users should probably also run a complete virus scan on their computers.
This particular hack is quite disturbing because CCleaner is a commonly used utility from a trusted software maker.
byJim Malmberg
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