Technology

Unofficial 7-zip.com website served up malware-laden downloads for over a week — infected PCs forced into a proxy botnet

Source

Tom's Hardware

Published

Feb 12, 2026

TL;DR

AI Generated

The unofficial 7-zip.com website was found to be serving malware-laden downloads for over a week, infecting PCs and turning them into a proxy botnet. The site redirected users to malicious executables after a short delay, making it difficult to detect the malware. The malware installed a proxy server on infected PCs, allowing cybercriminals to hide their activities. Users are advised to always download software from official sources and verify file hashes to ensure security. The issue was first noticed by SourceForge users and later gained attention through a Reddit post.

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