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Trump White House Exposé 'Fire And Fury' Used To Spread Malware

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This article is more than 6 years old.

Michael Wolff's 300-plus page exposé Fire and Fury makes for riveting reading, and it's no surprise to see it topping sales charts. It's also not surprising to see that cybercriminals are trying to capitalize on the book's popularity.

Michael Molsner, a security researcher with Kaspersky Labs, recently spotted a digital copy of the book floating around online. Most of the book, at any rate. The file Molsner examined was missing about a hundred pages, but someone had stuffed in some additional material, too. Not the kind you read, but rather the kind that lets a hacker remotely manipulate your computer.

As The Daily Beast's Joseph Cox reports, Google's VirusTotal scanning service classifies this particular strain of malware as a "backdoor." Backdoors are incredibly powerful and dangerous. They give an attacker low-level access to your computer, which can allow them to steal your passwords and credit cards, monitor your chats, or even spy on you through your webcam.

That's precisely why cybercriminals have latched on to Wolff's bestseller. Because of its popularity, there are plenty of would-be readers who are ready and willing to track down a free copy on file-sharing websites. Opportunistic hackers leave their infected wares out in the open, hoping to turn users who let curiosity get the best of them into victims.

Some are even sending emails with the infected e-book attached. Under no circumstances should you open a copy of Fire and Fury -- or any e-book for that matter -- that shows up in your inbox out of the blue. You haven't won a contest. You're being attacked.

Play it safe. If you want to read a digital copy of Fire and Fury, stick to legitimate stores like Amazon, Google Books and iBooks, and you won't have to worry about infecting your computer with malware.