Experts: Dangerous Emote malware reappears

Updated November 16, 2021 at 4:59 pm.

• fight against emote was deemed to have won.
• However, experts are now re-reporting cases in which malware is said to have been used.
• Organized crime in particular has used malware in the past.

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Security experts have rediscovered an allegedly destroyed malware of the same name nearly a year after a major setback against the dreaded cyberware network Emotet.

“It smells like emote, looks like emote, behaves like emote – sounds like emote,” concludes a report by IT security experts at G Data. The Bochum-based company supported the executives in the shutdown with technical analysis.

In January, Europol announced that the infrastructure of the Emotet system, which is mainly used by organized crime, was under control. Investigators from eight countries were involved in the mission of more than two years under German and Dutch leadership. In fact, no further emote claims were subsequently reported.

G Data’s systems registered the Trickbot malware with a customer on Sunday evening, which in turn reloaded another malware. It was recognized as emote. Experts from other security companies confirmed the G-Data analysis.

Emotet many computer executives and companies. have been infected with

Emotet appeared in 2014 as a so-called Trojan. In 2018, the Federal Office for Information Security (BSI) described the program as “the world’s most dangerous malware”. NS”At its core, Emotet Infrastructure acted as the first door opener In computer systems on a global scale”, describes the way Europol works.

In Germany, in addition to the computers of thousands of private individuals, many IT systems of companies, authorities and institutions were infected. These included the Firth Clinic, the Berlin Court of Appeal, the Federal Agency for Real Estate Tasks and the city of Frankfurt am Main.

A Word document, often disguised as a harmless attachment to e-mail or a link, was used to break into the system. As soon as the illegal access was successful, it was sold to cybercriminals. These may in turn smuggle in their own Trojans, for example to gain access to bank data, resell stolen data, or ransom for blocked data.

The malware was hiding in fake invoices, delivery announcements or alleged information about COVID-19. But if the user clicked on the link or opened the attachment, the malware installed itself and spread very quickly.

Rudiger Trost, an expert at F-Secure, said the challenges for companies haven’t changed structurally with the re-emergence of Emotet. “But the re-emergence of this family of malware increases the level of cybersecurity risk for businesses.” (dpa/thp)