Malwarebytes researchers have uncovered a fake (but convincing) Zoom meeting page that downloads surveillance software on Windows computers and tricks users into running it.
According to Microsoft MVP Steven Lim, the page has claimed nearly 1,500 victims in 12 days.
The trick
Potential victims likely visit the page (at uswebzoomus[.]com/zoom/) after getting a meeting invite/link via email or text.
The page is made to look like a Zoom waiting room and, once a visitor interacts with it, three scripted fake participants appear to join the call, one by one.
“Their conversation audio loops on repeat in the background. A permanent ‘Network Issue’ warning is displayed over the main video tile,” Malwarebytes researcher Stefan Dasic explained.
“The choppy audio and lagging video are entirely deliberate, and they serve a specific psychological purpose. A visitor sitting through a broken call will naturally assume something is wrong with the app. When an ‘Update Available’ prompt appears moments later, it feels like the fix.”
The prompt, which cannot be closed, shows a counter that goes from five to zero. When the countdown ends, the page switches to what looks like the Microsoft Store showing “Zoom Workplace” mid-installation, and the browser downloads a file (a Windows installer) without asking for permission.
Fake Microsoft Store front (Source: Malwarebytes)
The file is named zoom_agent_x64_s-i(__941afee582cc71135202939296679e229dd7cced) (1).msi, but it’s a installer for Teramind, which is legitimate monitoring and user-activity tracking software that businesses use to oversee how company devices and accounts are used.
The software is capable of taking screeshots, logging keystrokes, capture clipboard contents, and more.
Covert installation and presence
The installer is pre-configured to report to an attacker-controlled Teramind account and to install the software without any visible indication that the process is happening.
Once installed, the software’s presence is practically invisible to the user: it doesn’t show in the list of installed programs, there’s no icon in the taskbar, and no entry in the system tray.
The attacker went to great lengths to avoid the installer to be spotted and analyzed. Once the monitoring agent is installed and running, the installer will delete the temporary files and folders it created and used.
“The attackers did not write custom malware. They deployed a professionally developed commercial product that is designed to run reliably and persist through restarts. That makes it more durable than many traditional malware strains,” Dasic pointed out, and said that traditional antivirus tools may not flag the software.
“Based on my DefenderXDR FileProfile analysis, this [threat] was first detected on 11 Feb 2026 on MDE platform and it’s global prevalence as of now is 1437 and Microsoft Defender is NOT flagging this file according to VirusTotal,” Lim noted on Tuesday.
At the time of writing, VirusTotal shows that zero security vendors detect this Teramind installer as malicious.
What to do?
It’s currently unknown whether this campaign is targeting employees or consumers, or both.
Employees who have visited the fake Zoom meeting page and have been tricked into running the malicious installer should report the potential compromise to their organization’s IT/Sec team, Dasic advised.
Consumers who have fallen prey to this campaign should consider their device compromised and search for the tell-tale installation folder (C:ProgramData{4CEC2908-5CE4-48F0-A717-8FC833D8017A}) and hidden running services, and proceed to change passwords for important accounts from a different, clean device.
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