Just like protecting yourself from other network malware threats, for remote access trojan protection, in general, you need to avoid downloading unknown items; keep antimalware and firewall up to date, change your usernames and passwords regularly; (for administrative perspective) block unused ports, turn off unused services, and monitor outgoing traffic.
Full Answer
What is remote access trojan (RAT)?
What is Remote Access Trojan (RAT)? A remote access Trojan (RAT) is a malware program that opens a backdoor, enabling administrative control over the victim’s computer. RATs are typically downloaded together with a seemingly legitimate program, like a game, or are sent to the target as an email attachment.
How do I protect against a remote access trojan?
While there are several measures that can be helpful depending on the size of the environment you’re looking to protect—including security awareness training and antivirus software— intrusion detection systems are your best bet for preventing a Remote Access Trojan from slipping past your security setup.
Which is the Best Antivirus for remote access trojan detection?
Remote Access Trojan Detection 1 Avast 2 AVG 3 Avira 4 Bitdefender 5 Kaspersky 6 Malwarebytes 7 McAfee 8 Microsoft Windows Defender 9 Norton 10 PC Matic 11 Sophos 12 Trend Micro More ...
What is a Trojan virus?
Trojans are a common type of malware which, unlike viruses, can't spread on their own. This means they either have to be downloaded manually or another malware needs to download and install them. Trojans often use the same file names as real and legitimate apps.
What can remote access Trojans do?
Remote access trojans (RATs) are malware designed to allow an attacker to remotely control an infected computer. Once the RAT is running on a compromised system, the attacker can send commands to it and receive data back in response.
Can remote access Trojans be detected?
AIDE—short for Advanced Intrusion Detection Environment—is a HIDS designed specifically to focus on rootkit detection and file signature comparisons, both of which are incredibly useful for detecting APTs like Remote Access Trojans.
How are remote access Trojans spread?
These messages have . ZIP files attached which, once opened, reveal an ISO image. The ISO file is equipped with a malicious loader for the Trojans through either JavaScript, a Windows batch file, or a Visual Basic script. If a victim attempts to load the disk image, these scripts will trigger.
What is a Mobile Remote Access Trojan?
A Remote Access Trojan, or RAT, is a type of malware that disguises itself as a file that's either harmless or beneficial to the user—this could be anything from a file to programs and apps. But unlike other types of malware, a RAT doesn't just steal or ruin data and files it was pre-programmed to do.
Is someone using my computer remotely?
Open your Task Manager or Activity Monitor. These utilities can help you determine what is currently running on your computer. Windows – Press Ctrl + Shift + Esc. Mac – Open the Applications folder in Finder, double-click the Utilities folder, and then double-click Activity Monitor.
Which of the following is a remote Trojan?
Troya is a remote Trojan that works remotely for its creator.
How can I find a hidden virus on my computer?
You can also head to Settings > Update & Security > Windows Security > Open Windows Security on Windows 10, or Settings > Privacy and Security > Windows Security > Open Windows Security on Windows 11. To perform an anti-malware scan, click “Virus & threat protection.” Click “Quick Scan” to scan your system for malware.
Can you get a RAT on your phone?
RAT infected Android devices can be remotely zombified by the perpetrator, allowing virtually unlimited access to photos, data and messages on the device. The Dendroid RAT provides full access to infected devices' camera and microphone, and can place calls or listen in on a user's phone conversations or text messages.
What was the first remote access Trojan?
The oldest RAT was first developed in 1996 [10], however legitimate remote access tools were first created in 1989 [11]. Since then, the number of RATs has grown rapidly. The first phase was marked by home-made RATs. In these years, everyone made their own RAT, however these did not prosper and were not heavily used.
Can Kaspersky detect remote access Trojan?
Put a good antivirus on your smartphone. For example, Kaspersky Internet Security for Android not only finds and removes Trojans, but also blocks websites with malware and mobile subscriptions.
What is spyware app?
Mobile Spy Apps or Spyware Apps are smartphone surveillance software. These types of apps help you to track incoming and outgoing phone calls, SMS, and locations. These apps are hidden and undetectable to the end-user.
What is data sending Trojan?
A data-sending Trojan is a kind of Trojan virus that relays sensitive information back to its owner. This type of Trojan can be used to retrieve sensitive data, including credit card information, email addresses, passwords, instant messaging contact lists, log files and so on.
Which virus that Cannot be detected by antivirus software is?
A stealth virus has an intelligent architecture, making it difficult to eliminate it completely from a computer system. The virus is smart enough to rename itself and send copies to a different drive or location, evading detection by the system's antivirus software.
Can Norton detect RATs?
Antivirus software like Bitdefender, Kaspersky, Webroot, or Norton, can detect RATs and other types of malware if they infect your devices.
What is a backdoor Trojan?
Backdoor malware is generally classified as a Trojan. A Trojan is a malicious computer program pretending to be something it's not for the purposes of delivering malware, stealing data, or opening up a backdoor on your system.
What is smart RAT switch?
RAT infected Android devices can be remotely zombified by the perpetrator, allowing virtually unlimited access to photos, data and messages on the device. The Dendroid RAT provides full access to infected devices' camera and microphone, and can place calls or listen in on a user's phone conversations or text messages.
What is RAT software?
RAT can also stand for remote administration tool, which is software giving a user full control of a tech device remotely. With it, the user can ac...
What’s the difference between the RAT computer virus and RAT software?
As for functions, there is no difference between the two. Yet, while remote administration tool is for legit usage, RAT connotes malicious and crim...
What are the popular remote access applications?
The common remote desktop tools include but are not limited to TeamViewer, AnyDesk, Chrome Remote Desktop, ConnectWise Control, Splashtop Business...
Can a Remote Access Trojan be installed to BIOS?
Access to the BIOS has been known to the world’s hackers since 2015. Many believe that the NSA was planting RATs and trackers on BIOS even earlier.
How is a Remote Access Trojan RAT different from a regular Trojan horse?
A Trojan is a virus that gets onto a victim computer by passing itself off as a legitimate piece of software. A RAT is a Trojan that the hacker can...
What is the Sakula Remote Access Trojan RAT?
Sakula is a RAT that is used to intrude on IT systems serving government departments and agencies, healthcare facilities, and other large organizat...
Can a Remote Access Trojan be installed to BIOS?
Access to the BIOS has been known to the world’s hackers since 2015. Many believe that the NSA was planting RATs and trackers on BIOS even earlier.
What is intrusion detection?
Intrusion detection systems are important tools for blocking software intrusion that can evade detection by antivirus software and firewall utilities. The SolarWinds Security Event Manager is a Host-based Intrusion Detection System. However, there is a section of the tool that works as a Network-based Intrusion Detection System. This is the Snort Log Analyzer. You can read more about Snort below, however, you should know here that it is a widely used packet sniffer. By employing Snort as a data collector to feed into the Snort Log Analyzer, you get both real-time and historic data analysis out of the Security Event Manager.
How does a RAT toolkit work?
Other elements propagate the RAT by sending out links to infected web pages. These are sent to the social media contacts of an infected user.
What is SIEM in security?
This dual capability gives you a full Security Information and Event Management (SIEM) service. This means that you can watch Snort-captured events live and also examine cross-packet intrusion signatures identified through log file records.
How does Beast RAT work?
The Beast RAT attacks Windows systems from Windows 95 up to Windows 10. This uses the same client-server architecture that Back Orifice pioneered with the server part of the system being the malware that gets installed surreptitiously on the target computer. Once the server element is operational, the hacker can access the victim computer at will through the client program. The client connects to the target computer at port number 6666. The server is also able to open connections back to the client and that uses port number 9999. Beast was written in 2002 and is still widely in use.
How to get rid of a RAT?
Sometimes, the only solution to rid your computer of a RAT is to wipe out all of your software and reinstall the operating system. RAT prevention systems are rare because the RAT software can only be identified once it is operating on your system.
What can a hacker do with a RAT?
A hacker with a RAT can command power stations, telephone networks, nuclear facilities, or gas pipelines. RATs not only represent a corporate network security risk, but they can also enable belligerent nations to cripple an enemy country.
How are Remote Access Trojans Useful to Hackers?
Attackers using remote control malware cut power to 80,000 people by remotely accessing a computer authenticated into SCADA (supervisor y control and data acquisition) machines that controlled the country’s utility infrastructure. RAT software made it possible for the attacker to access sensitive resources through bypassing the authenticated user's elevated privileges on the network. Having access to critical machines that control city resources and infrastructure is one of the biggest dangers of RAT malware.
Why is email at risk?
Since an attacker remotely accesses the computer, authenticated accounts such as email are at risk. Attackers can use email, for example, to send malicious messages to other potential victims using the authenticated email account on the remotely controlled device. Using a trusted email account gives attackers a better chance of tricking an email recipient into installing malware or running a malicious attachment.
How to install a RAT?
An attacker must convince the user to install a RAT either by downloading malicious software from the web or running an executable from a malicious email attachment or message. RATs can also be installed using macros in Microsoft Word or Excel documents. When a user allows the macro to run on a device, the macro silently downloads RAT malware and installs it. With the RAT installed, an attacker can now remotely control the desktop, including mouse movement, mouse clicks, camera controls, keyboard actions, and any configured peripherals.
Why do attackers use RATs?
RATs have the same remote-control functionality as RDPs, but are used for malicious purposes. Attackers always code software to avoid detection, but attackers who use a RAT risk being caught when the user is in front of the device and the mouse moves across the screen. Therefore, RAT authors must create a hidden program and use it when the user is not in front of the device. To avoid detection, a RAT author will hide the program from view in Task Manager, a Windows tool that lists all the programs and processes running in memory. Attackers aim to stay hidden from detection because it gives them more time to extract data and explore network resources for critical components that could be used in future attacks.
What happens if you don't see malware in Task Manager?
If you don’t see any potential malware in Task Manager, you could still have a RAT that an author programmed to avoid detection. Good anti-malware applications detect most of the common RATs in the wild. Any zero-day malware remains undetected until the user updates their anti-malware software, so it’s important to keep your anti-malware and antivirus software updated. Vendors for these programs publish updates frequently as new malware is found in the wild.
How do RATs work?
To discover the way RATs work, users can remotely access a device in their home or on a work-related network. RATs work just like standard remote-control software, but a RAT is programmed to stay hidden to avoid detection either from anti-malware software or the device owner.
Why do attackers use remote devices?
Instead of storing the content on their own servers and cloud devices, attackers use targeted stolen devices so that they can avoid having accounts and servers shut down for illegal content.
What Is RAT Software?
One malicious example of remote access technology is a Remote Access Trojan (RAT), a form of malware allowing a hacker to control your device remotely. Once a RAT program is connected to your computer, the hacker can examine the local files, acquire login credentials and other personal information, or use the connection to download viruses you could unwittingly spread along to others.
How does Snort intrusion detection work?
The intrusion detection mode operates by applying threat intelligence policies to the data it collects, and Snort has predefined rules available on their website, where you can also download policies generated by the Snort user community. You can also create your own policies or tweak the ones Snort provides. These include both anomaly- and signature-based policies, making the application’s scope fairly broad and inclusive. Snort’s base policies can flag several potential security threats, including OS fingerprinting, SMB probes, and stealth port scanning.
What is security event manager?
Security Event Manager (SEM) is the option I most highly recommend. SEM is a host-based intrusion detection system including several powerful automated threat remediation features. SEM intrusion detection software is designed to compile and sort the large amounts of log data networks generate; as such, one of the primary benefits it offers is the ability to analyze vast amounts of historical data for patterns a more granular, real-time detection system might not be able to identify. This makes Security Event Manager an incredibly useful RAT detection tool, considering how APTs tend to stay under the radar over long periods of time.
What is the best way to detect malware?
The best option, especially for larger organizations, is to employ an intrusion detection system, which can be host-based or network-based. Host-based intrusion detection systems (HIDSs), which are installed on a specific device, monitor log files and application data for signs of malicious activity; network-based intrusion detection systems (NIDSs), on the other hand, track network traffic in real time, on the lookout for suspicious behavior. When used together, HIDSs and NIDSs create a security information and event management (SIEM) system. SIEM is an incredibly beneficial part of a strong security regimen and can help to block software intrusions which have slipped past firewalls, antivirus software, and other security countermeasures.
What was the Russian attack on Georgia?
An example of this occurred in 2008, when Russia used a coordinated campaign of physical and cyber warfare to seize territory from the neighboring Republic of Georgia. The Russian government did this using distributed denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks which cut off internet coverage across Georgia, combined with APTs and RATs allowing the government to both collect intelligence about and disrupt Georgian military operations and hardware. News agencies across Georgia were also targeted, many of which had their websites either taken down or radically altered.
How do remote access Trojans evade live data analysis?
One way in which Remote Access Trojans can evade the live data analysis NIDSs provide is by dividing the command messaging sent through the malware across multiple data packets. NIDSs like Zeek, which focus more on application layers, are better able to detect split command messaging by running analyses across multiple data packets. This is one advantage Zeek has over Snort.
How long is the free trial of SEM?
If want to try before you buy, take advantage of the 30-day free trial, during which SEM is fully functional.
How many Q&A communities are there on Stack Exchange?
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What podcast is about semiconductor shortage?
Podcast 391: Explaining the semiconductor shortage, and how it might end
How to protect your computer from phishing?
As mentioned above, you can't. What you can is follow best practices, that are repeated over and over again by security experts: 1 Keep your system up-to-date 2 Don't install software from untrustworthy sources 3 Use a password manager 4 Make backups on an external device 5 Don't click on links in phishing emails and don't answer them.
Is the linked question duplicate?
The linked questionis nota duplicate. It starts with “Let's say that I have determined beyond doubt that my home PC is infected by a virus.” That is, it does not cover detection. This question asks about both detection and removal. It’s lucky someone slipped an answer in just before the question was closed.
Can you follow best practices?
As mentioned above, you can't. What you can is follow best practices, that are repeated over and over again by security experts:
Can you prove a negative?
Proving a negative is basically impossible. It's like saying "How can I prove that nobody owns a key to my apartment?" - you simply can't.
