Watch Out for CoreBot, New Stealer in the Wild

When it comes to discovering new malware, it is much more common for researchers to run across information stealers, ransomware and remote-access tools (RATs) than it is to encounter brand new complex codes like banking Trojans or targeted attack tools such as Duqu.

Nonetheless, it is the lesser breeds, like information stealers and RATs, that are a lot more prolific in the wild. And while banking Trojans or targeted attacks are quite specific in what they do, information stealers are by far less discriminatory and thus end up affecting a greater number of people and organizations.

That brings us to CoreBot, a new information stealer discovered and analyzed by IBM Security X-Force researchers, who indicate this is one malware piece to watch out for. CoreBot appears to be quite modular, which means that its structure and internal makeup were programmed in a way that allows for the easy adding of new data theft and endpoint control mechanisms.

CoreBot was discovered while the researchers were studying the activity of malware on Trusteer-protected enterprise endpoints. The malware’s compiled file was named “core” by its developer. Antivirus engines do not specify this malware’s name yet and detect it under generic names such as Dynamer!ac or Eldorado. But while CoreBot may appear artless at first glance, without real-time theft capabilities, it is more interesting on the inside.

Info Stealers: Prevalence and Risk Factors

When it comes to generic malware, many believe it is less targeted and therefore less damaging than more elaborate malcode. In reality, the opposite is true. Generic malware is frequently the sort of Trojan that harvests passwords indiscriminately, which ends up compromising a broader set of the user’s personal accounts, including bank account credentials, email and e-wallets. When they land on an enterprise endpoint, information stealers gather email credentials, software keys and anything else saved on that drive that can be interesting to attackers. On top of that, it can download and execute other malware at will.

Many times, info-stealer Trojan botnets siphon this sort of data from a myriad of endpoints and trade it in the underground, selling it to cybercriminals who will find ways to use or monetize it.

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