AutoHotKey Malware Is Now a Thing

[Faybert]

AutoHotKey has now become one of the most trendy technologies for building malware, according to several reports put out by cyber-security firms and insights Bleeping Computer received from .

AutoHotKey, or AHK, is an open-source scripting language developed for the Microsoft Windows operating system back in 2003.

AHK was born when its creator tried and failed to add support for keyboard shortcuts (hotkeys) in AutoIt, a similar Windows scripting language.

The failed attempt to improve the older AutoIt language spurred the AHK creator to put together a new scripting engine that later became AutoHotKey and, which, over the next several years developed into a behemoth on the Windows scripting landscape.
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AHK goes from aimbots to in-the-wild malware strains
Because of these features, over the years, AutoHotKey became the prime technology used for the creation of aimbots and other game cheating tools. But in recent months, the language has also started catching on with some malware developers, as well.

A first report highlighting the rising number of AHK-based malware came from the security research team at Ixia, who found AHK malware samples distributing cryptocurrency miners and a clipboard hijacker towards the end of February.
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