Trojan stealing Bitcoin users' digital wallets

June 17, 2011 11:05 PM EDT

Security firm Symantec warned people that they might end up like Bitcoin users ‘Allinvain’, whose digital wallet were targeted by a new Trojan to steal funds.

Earlier this week a news report said that Bitcoin user digital wallet being hacked to the tune of 25,000 bitcoins, or about $500,000.

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Symantec said that a Trojan called 'Infostealer.Coinbit' locates your wallet file and then mails it to the attacker. Trojan uses FTP to transfer file to the attackers and with the information the attackers steal your Bitcoins coins, Betanews reported.

Current exchange rates place the value of one Bitcoin to about $23.50 as of late Friday afternoon, according to bitcoincharts.com.

Democratic Senators Charles Schumer of New York and Joe Manchin of West Virginia have asked the US Attorney General to begin cracking down on sites accepting the currency.

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"If you use Bitcoins, you have the option to encrypt your wallet and we recommend you to choose a strong password because an attacker is attempting to brute-force your wallet open," Symantec's Stephen Doherty said.

Earlier this week, a hack on a Bitcoin user's Windows computer was equivalent to $500,000.

The amount is not confirmed yet, but if such a large amount is transferred than it would have caused a drop in the value of the Bitcoin.

Earlier this week Symantec reported that the hackers are able to develop botnets to utilize Bitcon’s system. It is believed that based on current valuations, these efforts could be netting these botnet owners the equivalent of $100,000 per month.

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This article is copyrighted by International Business Times, the business news leader