HotRat: New Variant of AsyncRAT Malware Spreading Through Pirated Software

silversurfer

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Aug 17, 2014
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A new variant of AsyncRAT malware dubbed HotRat is being distributed via free, pirated versions of popular software and utilities such as video games, image and sound editing software, and Microsoft Office.

"HotRat malware equips attackers with a wide array of capabilities, such as stealing login credentials, cryptocurrency wallets, screen capturing, keylogging, installing more malware, and gaining access to or altering clipboard data," Avast security researcher Martin a Milánek said.

The Czech cybersecurity firm said the trojan has been prevalent in the wild since at least in October 2022, with a majority of the infections concentrated in Thailand, Guyana, Libya, Suriname, Mali, Pakistan, Cambodia, South Africa, and India.


HotRat-01.png
 
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cartaphilus

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Mar 17, 2023
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I find it funny when people download pirated software and catch something like this karma At its best especially If the pirated software is a antivirus lol
I would agree but I am very very close at eventually pirating adobe products mainly because I actually want to own a product and not lease it. I am hating the new trend of leasing software. I don't want the latest and the greatest in everything. Sometimes I am just a beginner user and having basic functions works fine for me. For example I own office 2021 and I only use at most 10% of what it offers. I have no need for a constantly updated 365 suite since there is a 95% chance that I will never use those extra features.
 

Sandbox Breaker

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Jan 6, 2022
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I find it funny when people download pirated software and catch something like this karma At its best especially If the pirated software is a antivirus lol
There used to be a backdoored McAfee Virusscan Enterprise floating around and some of my IT friends had it installed! It was truly funny. It was a code caved setup exe within the McAfee install folder.
 

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