HoudRat Malware

The HoudRat Malware is a Remote Access Trojan (RAT) that has seen limited use. However, the fact that this threat is not widely spread certainly does not make it any less threatening – the Trojan can provide remote attackers with almost complete control over the infected system, and it may often be used to deliver additional payloads. One of the most infamous past campaigns to involve the HoudRat Malware was Retadup. This threatening worm hijacked thousands of computers worldwide and harvested their hardware resources to mine for the Monero cryptocurrency. Often, computers infected by Retadup also had the HoudRat Malware present.

The HoudRat Malware's functionality is limited because it has been created via the AutoIT scripting language mainly. This is not a typical choice for malware development when it comes to Remote Access Trojans (RATs), especially. The main purpose of HoudRat Malware is to extract hardware and software information about the compromised system and then launch a keylogger module that will send the logs to a remote control server periodically. Surprisingly, the HoudRat Malware also focuses on information saved by Web browsers – however, instead of trying to hijack passwords or cookies, it tries to collect the browser history.

HoudRat Malware also is able to spread like a Worm thanks to its automatic USB spreader module. If a USB drive is attached to an infected device, the HoudRat Malware will copy its files there in an attempt to reach more computers.

Staying safe from a potential attack involving HoudRat Malware can be accomplished by using an up-to-date anti-malware software suite, as well as by being careful with the Internet content you interact with.