Anti-virus Software Spreads Malware In Troubling Twist

People rely on their anti-virus software to keep their devices free of those nasty digital bugs. However, anyone who downloaded the CCleaner by Avast between August 15th and September 12th might want to check on their computer’s health right now. It seems the software actually spread malware, which might have affected over 2 million people.

The malware was apparently injected into the downloadable version of the CCleaner, Quartz reports. According to the findings of a cybersecurity group, the malware has so far been sending information it had gathered from the infected users’ computers to a particular server. Even so, it possesses the potential for causing damage to the infected units.

Fortunately, getting rid of the malware is just a matter of installing the latest version of CCleaner. After that, there should be no trace of the harmful code left.

Of course, this is not going to erase the damage done during the time that the malware had infected the computers, to begin with. At this point, users can only hope that the malware was not able to gather sensitive information that could impact their financial or personal wellbeing.

As to who was able to infect the CCleaner software in the first place, this is not yet known, Time reports. No group has come forward to claim responsibility or explain what their goals were, and it’s also pointless to speculate due to the number of individuals or groups that could have pulled it off.

Even so, the most troubling aspect of this news is the fact that an anti-virus software was infected and spread the infection. This isn’t something that users usually expect of the tools that are meant to protect them from malware, especially from a source as trusted as Avast. There are literally millions of people right now who have the CCleaner installed in their computers who could have been exposed to the malware.