Cybercriminals update Pony Loader malware to steal your bitcoins

The Pony Loader malware has been updated to v2.0 and has nasty new tricks to help compromise users and steal bitcoins. The updated version is able to compromise a large group of different cryptocurrency wallets, including Litecoin, Namecoin, Terracoin, Goldcoin, Junkcoin, and Anoncoin.

To counter this new malware threat, it's recommend users update to the newest bitcoin client, which gives users a way to encrypt private keys with passphrases.

"Given the capability to steal stored credentials from a wide variety of software, users should consider storing their passwords and bitcoin private keys using these programs risky," said Isaac Palmer, Damballa malware reserve engineer, in a blog post.

Security companies warn of the evolution of malware, designed to compromise users quickly and silently. Attacking cryptocurrencies, such as bitcoin, is popular because the funds are stored electronically and security is still improving.