Researchers uncovered a malware sample called iTranslator that installs two drivers onto an infected machine to perform a man-in-the-middle (MitM) attack.
According to FortiGuard Labs, the malware sample, called itranslator_02.exe, is signed by a digital certificate that expired back in 2015.
This instance starts off by creating a folder called “itranslator” in the program-data folder and extracting a file named wintrans.exe into that folder. The file initializes by installing iTranslatorSvc, a driver that enables the malware to load at system startup. Next, wintrans.exe installs another driver called “iNetfilterSvc” before downloading “iTranslator.dll.”
This dynamic link library (DLL) acts as the main malware module. It installs a secure sockets layer (SSL) certificate into web browsers as trusted root certificates without the victim’s permission, communicates with the two drivers iNetfilterSvc and iTranslatorSvc, and monitors the internet access packets from a victim’s web browsers. These functions support iTranslator’s performance of a MitM attack on a compromised system, thereby empowering the attackers to steal sensitive information.
