Solana Network Woes Worsened by NFT Airdrop Malware Threat
The problems facing the Solana network and SOL coin investors are deepening as a new strain of malware has become the latest threat.
Users of Solana’s Phantom wallet have been targeted by malware that attempts to trick them into installing an update.
According to recent reports, malicious actors are sending NFTs to Solana wallet users impersonating alerts for a new Phantom security update. If installed, data-stealing malware can lead to theft from crypto wallets.
The ongoing attack has been ongoing for several weeks with NFTs titled ‘PHANTOMUPDATE.COM’ or ‘UPDATEPHANTOM.COM’ sent to Solana users. They include a warning that failure to update could lead to a compromised system or crypto theft “due to hackers exploiting the Solana network.”
If you click on them, malicious files are downloaded and installed on your PC or mobile that try to steal passwords, browser information and crypto security keys. The malware strain was identified as MarsStealer, which appeared in 2020 on Russian hacker forums.
Solana’s network outages are increasing
It’s not the first time Solana wallets have been targeted. In August, the Luca Stealer malware was suspected of being used in the attack that lost more than $4 million from over 9,200 Solana hot wallets due to a vulnerability.
Moreover, malware is not the only problem plaguing Solana, as it continues to suffer from network outages and poor performance. The once-touted “Ethereum killer” was killed again earlier this month when a power outage for at least 6 hours rendered the network unusable on October 1st. This time, the outbreak was blamed on a misconfigured node that caused an unrecoverable network partition.
At press time, Solana’s status panel indicates that the main network cluster is “currently experiencing reduced performance,” so things are clearly not running smoothly.
Solana has experienced power outages, network instability or reduced performance in January, April, March, May, June and October so far this year.
The SOL price plunges further
Solana’s native coin has lost 4.6% on the day, falling to $31.36 at press time. SOL prices continue to erode as investors lose faith in this former crypto darling.
The asset is close to falling out of the top ten by market capitalization, as it has lost a whopping 88% since its November record high of $260. Increased malware threats and more network outages are definitely not helping Solana.
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