A number of online users reported that their computers were infected after downloading a leaked copy of Windows 7 Release Candidate (RC) that is being distributed through BitTorrent sites.
The new Windows 7 RC system upgrade is set to be launched by Microsoft Corp. on Wednesday. However, pirated copies of the program have been available in BitTorrent sites two weeks ago before its official launching.
Online forums dedicated for BitTorrent downloader showed numerous complaints from users who downloaded the pirated copy of Windows 7, saying that the leaked copies were embedded with malware including a Trojan horse.
In a Neowin.net forum, one user claimed that his computer was infected with malware after downloading the leaked OS which contains Trojan horse designed to attack setup EXE of the computer system.
Some experts also warned that there are two malwares, Setup.exe and codec.exe. which are embedded in the pirated copy of Window 7 RC. They said that these online threats are hard to detect and to eliminate.
Meanwhile, a report showed that another malware which is called Falder Trojan has the capability to download fake security software also known as a “scareware”. The said scareware installs itself to PCs and will embed a rootkit that will hide itself from genuine antivirus products.
On the other hand, Micosoft Corp, urged online users not to download leaked copies of any operating system, programs, and applications especially in bittorrent sites since the files are usually embedded with computer virus, worms, malware, and other online threats.
This is not the only incident when a pirated application or program has been infected with malware. In 2008, some pirated Apple applications have been reported to have virus embedded from its system.