Over the past few years, we have all been discouraged from mixing with others, for fear of catching a nasty virus. As we know, time has passed and we are mingling amongst ourselves a bit more. But there is something else out there doing a fair bit of stirring up things and also passing on some nasty infections. NullMixer is a new malware dropper that has infected over 47,000 windows PCs, according to Kaspersky.

Users looking for cracked and pirated software are at greater risk of downloading the malware; in some cases, merely by clicking a link to get some pirated software will infect your device. If you click on a malicious link, you end up downloading the malware and upon launching the program, NullMixer is deployed. It infects the PC, releasing over 20 trojans which will run unnoticed on your computer.

NullMixer downloads in your computer as ‘win-setup-i864.exe’ and creates a whole new file “setup_installer.exe” which in turn, installs more malware on your system. Some examples of malware families dropped by NullMixer include Danabot, SmokeLoader, and Fabookie. They make your computer slow in performance, steal your login credentials, read user data, take screenshots, and even read your personal messages. 

Unfortunately, masking up will not help you with this one. But there are some ways to avoid being a victim of it.

Be cautious when downloading files online. It’s never recommended to use cracked and pirated software, because those items are especially risky. Do not ignore your antivirus warning when downloading software and apps and keep your antivirus software updated at all times. If you notice a file named “win-setup-i864.exe” in your download list, do not launch it, as it will infect your computer. Delete it immediately and if already installed, the only solution is reinstalling your Windows system.