Remote-access Guide

list of remote access trojans

by Prof. Hermann Pfeffer Published 3 years ago Updated 2 years ago
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Common Remote Access Trojans

  • Sakula. Sakula is a seemingly benign software with a legitimate digital signature, yet it allows attackers complete remote administration capabilities over a machine.
  • KjW0rm. KjW0rm is a worm written in VBS, which makes it difficult to detect on Windows machines. ...
  • Havex. ...
  • Agent.BTZ/ComRat. ...
  • Dark Comet. ...
  • AlienSpy. ...
  • Heseber BOT. ...
  • Sub7. ...
  • Back Orifice. ...

There are a large number of Remote Access Trojans. Some are more well-known than others. SubSeven, Back Orifice, ProRat, Turkojan, and Poison-Ivy are established programs. Others, such as CyberGate, DarkComet, Optix, Shark, and VorteX Rat have a smaller distribution and utilization.

Full Answer

What is a remote access trojan (RAT)?

A common way of expanding this beachhead on the target machine is through Remote Access Trojans (RATs). This type of malware is designed to allow a hacker to remotely control a target machine, providing a level of access similar to that a remote system administrator.

What are computer Trojans?

Computer Trojans received their name from the infamous mythological horse. The Trojan’s basic mission is to mislead people of its real goal. A Trojan is malicious software that usually needs to be launched by the user or another malicious program.

What are the different types of Trojans?

Trojans have evolved into different complex forms like backdoors (that can manage distant computers) and downloaders (that can download and install other malicious programs. These are the types of Trojans that you need to be aware of: 1. ArcBombs

What are DDoS Trojans?

5. DDoS DDoS Trojans are intended to launch denial of service attacks targeting the victim’s IP address. During such attacks, a flood of requests get sent from multiple infected devices to the DDoS victim thus overloading it and causing it to stop functioning.

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Which is the best remote access Trojan?

Blackshades is a Trojan which is widely used by hackers to gain access to any system remotely. This tool frequently attacks the Windows-based operating system for access.

What are the variants of remote access Trojan?

Common Remote Access TrojansSakula. Sakula is a seemingly benign software with a legitimate digital signature, yet it allows attackers complete remote administration capabilities over a machine. ... KjW0rm. ... Havex. ... Agent. ... Dark Comet. ... AlienSpy. ... Heseber BOT. ... Sub7.More items...

Which of the following is a remote Trojan?

Troya is a remote Trojan that works remotely for its creator.

Can a Trojan give remote access?

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.

What are the common backdoor?

7 most common application backdoorsShadowPad. ... Back Orifice. ... Android APK backdoor. ... Borland/Inprise InterBase backdoor. ... Malicious chrome and Edge extension backdoor. ... Backdoors in outdated WordPress plugins. ... Bootstrap-Sass Ruby library backdoor.

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.

How do I know if someone is accessing my computer remotely?

You can try any of these for confirmation.Way 1: Disconnect Your Computer From the Internet.Way 2. ... Way 3: Check Your Browser History on The Computer.Way 4: Check Recently Modified Files.Way 5: Check Your computer's Login Events.Way 6: Use the Task Manager to Detect Remote Access.Way 7: Check Your Firewall Settings.More items...•

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.

Which of the following is a type of Trojan?

Trojan-Downloader is a special type of trojans which can download & install new versions of malicious programs. Explanation: Trojan-Downloader is another type of trojans that can download & install new versions of malicious programs.

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.

Can you get a RAT from visiting a website?

The answer is you can receive a Remote Access Trojan (RAT) like any other malware including a website that uses Exploitation or Social Engineering as a ploy to get you infected.

What are the main features of a remote access Trojan?

Remote Access Trojan Definition Instead of destroying files or stealing data, a RAT gives attackers full control of a desktop or mobile device so that they can silently browse applications and files and bypass common security such as firewalls, intrusion detection systems, and authentication controls.

What are the main features of a remote access Trojan?

RAT (remote access Trojan)Monitoring user behavior through keyloggers or other spyware.Accessing confidential information, such as credit card and social security numbers.Activating a system's webcam and recording video.Taking screenshots.Distributing viruses and other malware.Formatting drives.More items...

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.

Are PUPs malware?

Type and source of infection. Detections categorized as PUPs are not considered as malicious as other forms of malware, and may even be regarded by some as useful. Malwarebytes detects potentially unwanted programs for several reasons, including: They may have been installed without the user's consent.

Is a backdoor malware?

A backdoor is a malware type that negates normal authentication procedures to access a system. As a result, remote access is granted to resources within an application, such as databases and file servers, giving perpetrators the ability to remotely issue system commands and update malware.

How do remote access Trojans work?

The Remote Access Trojans get themselves downloaded on a device if the victims click on any attachment in an email or from a game. It enables the attacker to get control over the device and monitor the activities or gaining remote access. This RAT makes itself undetected on the device, and they remain in the device for a longer period of time for getting data that may be confidential.

What is the most powerful Trojan?

One of the most powerful Trojans that are popularly used by the attacker or hacker is Remote Access Trojan. This is mostly used for malicious purposes. This Trojan ensures the stealthy way of accumulating data by making itself undetected. Now, these Trojans have the capacity to perform various functions that damages the victim.

What is the advantage of remote access?

Advantage of Remote Access Trojans : It can be used to capture screenshots. The attacker can activate the webcam, or they can record video. The RAT can be used to delete the files or alter files in the system. It can also be used to capture screenshots.

How to protect yourself from remote access trojans?

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.

What is a RAT trojan?

RAT trojan is typically installed on a computer without its owner’s knowledge and often as a trojan horse or payload. For example, it is usually downloaded invisibly with an email attachment, torrent files, weblinks, or a user-desired program like a game. While targeted attacks by a motivated attacker may deceive desired targets into installing RAT ...

What Does a RAT Virus Do?

Since a remote access trojan enables administrative control , it is able to do almost everything on the victim machine.

How does RAT malware work?

Once get into the victim’s machine, RAT malware will hide its harmful operations from either the victim or the antivirus or firewall and use the infected host to spread itself to other vulnerable computers to build a botnet.

Why do RATs use a randomized filename?

It is kind of difficult. RATs are covert by nature and may make use of a randomized filename or file path structure to try to prevent identification of itself. Commonly, a RAT worm virus does not show up in the lists of running programs or tasks and its actions are similar to those of legal programs.

Is Sub 7 a trojan horse?

Typically, Sub 7 allows undetected and unauthorized access. So, it is usually regarded as a trojan horse by the security industry. Sub7 worked on the Windows 9x and Windows NT family of OSes, up to and including Windows 8.1. Sub7 has not been maintained since 2014. 4.

Can a RAT remote access trojan be used on a computer?

Since RAT remote access trojan will probably utilize the legitimate apps on your computer, you’d better upgrade those apps to their latest versions. Those programs include your browsers, chat apps, games, email servers, video/audio/photo/screenshot tools, work applications…

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 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.

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.

What is remote control software?

Legitimate remote-control software exists to enable an administrator to control a device remotely. For example, administrators use Remote Desktop Protocol (RDP) configured on a Windows server to remotely manage a system physically located at another site such as a data center. Physical access to the data center isn’t available to administrators, so RDP gives them access to configure the server and manage it for corporate productivity.

What happens if you remove the internet from your computer?

Removing the Internet connection from the device disables remote access to your system by an attacker. After the device can no longer connect to the Internet, use your installed anti-malware program to remove it from local storage and memory. Unless you have monitoring configured on your computer, you won't know which data and files transferred to an attacker. You should always change passwords across all accounts, especially financial accounts, after removing malware from your system.

Can malware writers name processes?

For most applications and processes, you can identify any suspicious content in this window, but malware writers name processes to make them look official. If you find any suspicious executables and processes, search online to determine if the process could be a RAT or other type of malware.

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.

Where is the server software stored?

The server software is stored in C:WindowsBifrostserver.exe or C:Program Files Bifrostserver.exe. This directory and file are hidden and so some anti-virus system checks fail to detect Bifrost.

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 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.

Can antivirus be used to get rid of a RAT?

Antivirus systems don’t do very well against RATs. Often the infection of a computer or network goes undetected for years. The obfuscation methods used by parallel programs to cloak the RAT procedures make them very difficult to spot. Persistence modules that use rootkit techniques mean that RATs are very difficult to get rid of. Sometimes, the only solution to rid your computer of a RAT is to wipe out all of your software and reinstall the operating system.

Who used RATs?

The original users of RATs for industrial espionage and sabotage were Chinese hackers. Over the years, Russia has come to appreciate the power of RATs and has integrated them into its military arsenal. APTs are now officially part of the Russian offense strategy that is known as “ hybrid warfare .”

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 are the types of Trojans?

These are the types of Trojans that you need to be aware of: 1. ArcBombs. These Trojans represent special archives that are designed to behave abnormally when users try to unpack them. ArcBomb archives either freeze or seriously slow the system. Malicious archives use different techniques to achieve their goal.

How to protect against Trojans?

Users usually launch the malware when they click on an email attachment or allow macros in office docs. So, the best protection against Trojans is to train users to watch what they click or open.

How do Trojans work?

All Trojans consist of two parts: server and client. The client connects to the server with the help of the TCP/IP protocol. The client may have a user interface and a set of buttons and input fields for remote administration.

What is a Trojan horse?

The Trojan’s basic mission is to mislead people of its real goal. A Trojan is malicious software that usually needs to be launched by the user or another malicious program.

How to get rid of Trojans?

The first step is to clean the temporary folder, locate malicious entries in the registry, and manually delete them while in Safe Mode. The best antivirus tools can detect and remove Trojans automatically.

What is malware dropper?

These software pieces are designed to install malware covertly. They contain other malware that is obfuscated and deeply hidden inside the dropper’s code. This is done to prevent detection by antivirus software. Many antivirus tools cannot analyze all components of droppers. They usually are saved to a Windows temporary directory. Then they are executed without any user notifications.

How to prevent Trojans from getting on my computer?

Malefactors exploit security holes in these programs to place Trojans on your computers. Set up and use firewalls to keep the internet connections secure. Firewalls filter out malicious traffic and prevent Trojans from getting delivered onto your device.

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