Trochilus RAT

Posted: January 13, 2016

Threat Metric

The Threat Meter is a malware assessment that SpywareRemove.com's research team is able to give every identifiable malware threat. Our Threat Meter includes several criteria based off of specific malware threats to value their severity, reach and volume. The Threat Meter is able to give you a numerical breakdown of each threat's initial Threat Level, Detection Count, Volume Count, Trend Path and Percentage Impact. The overall ranking of each threat in the Threat Meter is a basic breakdown of how all threats are ranked within our own extensive malware database. The scoring for each specific malware threat can be easily compared to other emerging threats to draw a contrast in its particular severity. The Threat Meter is a useful tool in the endeavor of seeking a solution to remove a threat or pursue additional analytical research for all types of computer users.

The following fields listed on the Threat Meter containing a specific value, are explained in detail below:

Threat Level: The threat level scale goes from 1 to 10 where 10 is the highest level of severity and 1 is the lowest level of severity. Each specific level is relative to the threat's consistent assessed behaviors collected from SpyHunter's risk assessment model.

Detection Count: The collective number of confirmed and suspected cases of a particular malware threat. The detection count is calculated from infected PCs retrieved from diagnostic and scan log reports generated by SpyHunter.

Volume Count: Similar to the detection count, the Volume Count is specifically based on the number of confirmed and suspected threats infecting systems on a daily basis. High volume counts usually represent a popular threat but may or may not have infected a large number of systems. High detection count threats could lay dormant and have a low volume count. Criteria for Volume Count is relative to a daily detection count.

Trend Path: The Trend Path, utilizing an up arrow, down arrow or equal symbol, represents the level of recent movement of a particular threat. Up arrows represent an increase, down arrows represent a decline and the equal symbol represent no change to a threat's recent movement.

% Impact (Last 7 Days): This demonstrates a 7-day period change in the frequency of a malware threat infecting PCs. The percentage impact correlates directly to the current Trend Path to determine a rise or decline in the percentage.

Threat Level:	8/10
Infected PCs:	34

First Seen:	January 13, 2016
Last Seen:	March 28, 2020
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

The Trochilus RAT is a Remote Access Trojan that may give third parties the ability to launch code or issue commands to an infected system. Although the Trochilus RAT last was seen operating in Asia, its source code is available on at least one software repository domain, making the Trochilus RAT available for third parties to use for different campaigns. Malware experts have linked the current Trochilus RAT activities to multiple-threat scenarios, and removing a Trochilus RAT always should include using anti-malware scans with the depth to detect and delete other threats, as well.

The Trochilus RAT: Two Tips of a Cyber-Dagger

While South Korean entities often are recurring targets of spyware attacks, and Japan has been the focal point of worm campaigns like Phorpiex, other nations of Asia also are at risk of being attacked by threats. The Trochilus RAT was verified being deployed against residents of Myanmar most recently, in an attack that compromised official government websites during election season. These 'watering hole' style attacks could infect vulnerable PCs automatically, using the PlugX RAT as the initial payload, and then installing other threats, such as two different versions of the Trochilus RAT.

The overall threat bundle is referred to by ASERT analysts as the 'Seven-Pointed Dagger' from its inclusion of seven types of threatening software. Most threats examined so far show signs of being variants of Remote Access Trojans, with slightly different feature sets for exfiltrating various types of data.

The Trochilus RAT is a resident-in-memory Trojan that doesn't generate visible files on your hard drive. Malware experts also found its features primarily limited to giving remote attackers command and code-launch capabilities. This restricted feature set means that PC security tools could find identifying a Trochilus RAT difficult while the Trojan may give third parties a high degree of access to the infected PC. Other functions theoretically supported in the Trochilus RAT include downloading and executing files at will, as well as uninstalling itself and managing various network communication protocols.

Dragging an RAT out of Its Hiding Place

The Trochilus RAT has low detection rates among most AV and anti-malware vendors, although recurring updates to the threat may, in part, be responsible for this issue. Since the Trochilus RAT infections have no correlations with visible symptoms, malware experts continue recommending using proactive anti-malware solutions for finding and removing the Trochilus RAT, and other Remote Access-based threats. Observant PC users also may note changes in their network settings or activity. Safe Web-browsing settings and standards also are essential for blocking Web-based threats delivery methods, including the watering hole exploits favored by more 'professional' threat admins.

Group 27, the entity managing the Seven-Pointed Dagger campaign, is known for administering its threats with an eye for redundancy and tailoring its threats to its victims. Signs point to this organization as being well-funded, showing the importance of PC users keeping their security up-to-date at all times. Although any visitor to the compromised websites could be compromised, in turn, there also are indications of the Trochilus RAT targeting government systems, in addition to would-be voters.

Because of its easy availability on the Web, malware experts also anticipate new campaigns utilizing Trochilus RAT in the future, whether or not Group 27 chooses to continue exploiting this Trojan's code base.

Trochilus RAT

Threat Metric

The Trochilus RAT: Two Tips of a Cyber-Dagger

Dragging an RAT out of Its Hiding Place

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