Online security is a topic that should no longer be mentioned in a casual way. Thanks to phishing, blackmail viruses and other malware, there is a danger even behind harmless e-mails. What is simply very annoying in private can turn out to be a small or big disaster in the business environment, because unauthorized access to the data you have stored can have unpleasant consequences. And now it is also clear that even with popular programs caution is required. As CCleaner himself has confirmed, malware has spread through a version of the optimization program.

Millions of users worldwide could be affected by the problem that a security researcher from Cisco Talos has now discovered. In version 5.33 of CCleaner, hackers have infected malware. The discovery was made on September 13th – the affected version was already about a month to download. CCleaner does not deny the message, but states that only the 32-bit Windows version is affected. However, approximately five million users who download the program on a monthly basis will only calm down. The current version 5.34 should be free of malware. The CCleaner cloud solution in version 1.07.3191 is probably also affected, but an automatic update should have ensured that the users have a software free from malware.

How could happen that hackers were able to introduce malware into the software and who is at all behind it, is not yet known. Also one does not really know whether the malicious software has not done any damage – even if it is said that this should not have happened. Because what the malware has done exactly and whether not unintentionally collected data is unclear. In any case, CCleaner immediately responded and removed the version 5.33 as a download. If you have already installed the affected version, you should quickly uninstall it manually and replace it with the new version – there is no automatic update.