Khaberni -Tell Me - Internet criminals on the video-sharing platform TikTok used video clips to deceive users and encourage them to download malicious software.
According to researchers from the global cybersecurity firm Trend Micro, in these clips, which are likely generated by artificial intelligence, users were promised free versions of Windows and Microsoft Office software or access to premium features in apps like "CapCut" and "Spotify".
All that internet criminals asked TikTok users through these videos was to execute a simple command via "PowerShell", which are short lines of code that perform tasks on the user's device, according to a report by "Mashable", a technology news site, reviewed by "Al Arabiya Business".
Users followed the instructions in these TikTok videos because they gave the impression that they were steps to activate the software, but the criminals used them to inject malicious programs such as "Vidar" and "StealC" into the users' systems.
According to the company Bleeping Computer, many of these videos achieved hundreds of thousands of views.
"Trend Micro" clarified that these videos did not contain malicious software themselves which could allow the platform to ban them and deal with them, but the steps that lead to the installation of the malicious software were visually and audibly displayed through these videos.
The company continued that internet criminals do this in an attempt to evade current detection mechanisms, making it difficult to detect these campaigns and disrupt them.
"TikTok" declined to comment specifically on this threat, but the company said, in a statement to "Mashable", that the accounts associated with the campaign had been disabled.
