India is among the worst affected by Chinese Fireball malware

After WannaCry ransomware, researchers have identified yet another malware, that has impacted more than 250 million PCs. Fireball, a Chinese malware, is technically, an adware.

India is among the worst affected in the list of countries impacted, according to security firm Check Point, which discovered this malware / adware.

Check Point's research teams say Fireball can take over a browser on an infected computer and run any code on these compromised PCs. This included the ability to download any

file, include other malware, and manipulate web traffic of the infected PC to boost ad-revenue for websites, by the company behind the malware. 

According to Check Point's blogpost, the malicious program could even install ''plug-ins and additional configurations to boost its advertisements.''

Check Point said the malware had been created by Rafotech, a ''large digital marketing agency based in Beijing.'' The malware, took over a victim's browser and their default search

engine, be it Google or Yahoo and replaced it with a fake one.

Following this, all queries to an actual search engine were redirected to the false ones, which then tracked a victim's web usage in order to collect private information. Check Point has

warned that the malware posed a serious threat, and what made it really dangerous was its ability to ''execute any malicious code in the infected machines.''

"A quarter-billion computers could very easily become victims of real malware. It installs a backdoor into all these computers that can be very, very easily exploited in the hands of the

Chinese people behind this campaign," Maya Horowitz, head of Check Point research team, was quoted as saying, IANS reported.

On the basis of analysis of its own network of clients, Check Point estimated that one in five corporate networks globally had at least one infection.

"But only a fraction of those victims, around 5.5 million PCs, are in the US. Far worse hit are countries like India and Brazil, with close to 25 million infected machines each," the firm said.