The TrickBot Trojan is a sophisticated banking Trojan that was first identified in 2016. While the malware was initially just an information stealer concerned with stealing online banking credentials, the malware has evolved considerably over the past four years and several modules have been added that provide a host of additional malicious capabilities.
The TrickBot Trojan’s information stealing capabilities have been significantly enhanced. In addition to banking credentials, it will steal system and network information, email credentials, tax data, and intellectual property. TrickBot is capable of moving laterally and silently infecting other computers on the network using legitimate Windows utilities and the EternalRomance exploit for the SMBv1 vulnerability. The malware can add a backdoor for persistent access. TrickBot also serves as a malware downloader and will download other malicious payloads, including Ryuk ransomware.
The Trojan is frequently updated and new variants are regularly released. The Command and Control infrastructure is also constantly changing. According to an analysis by Bitdefender, more than 100 new IPs are added to its C&C infrastructure each month with each having a lifespan of around 16 days. The malware and its infrastructure are highly sophisticated, and while steps have been taken to dismantle the operation, the attackers are managing to stay one step ahead.
TrickBot is primarily distributed by spam email through the Emotet botnet. Infection with Emotet sees TrickBot downloaded, and infection with TrickBot sees a computer added to the Emotet botnet. Once all useful information has been obtained from an infected system, the baton is passed over to the Ryuk ransomware operators with a reverse shell opened giving the Ryuk ransomware operators access to the system.
A recent analysis of a variant captured by Bitdefender on January 30, 2020 has shown another method of distribution has been added to its arsenal. The Trojan now has a module for bruteforcing RDP. The brute force RDP attacks are mainly being conducted on organizations in the financial services, education, and telecom industries and are currently targeted on organizations in the United States and Hong Kong at this stage, although it is likely that the attacks will spread geographically over the coming weeks. The attacks are being conducted to steal intellectual property and financial information.
Since the TrickBot Trojan is modular, it can be constantly updated with new features and the evolution of the malware so far, and its success, means it will continue to be a threat for some time to come. Fortunately, it is possible to prevent infections by practicing good cyber hygiene.
Spam is still the primary method of delivery for both the Emotet Trojan and TrickBot so an advanced spam filter is essential. Since new variants are constantly being released, signature-based detection methods alone are insufficient. SpamTitan incorporates a Bitdefender-powered sandbox to analyze suspicious email attachments for malicious activity. This ensures the malicious activity of never-before-seen malware variants is identified and the emails are quarantined before they can cause any harm.
If you don’t need RDP, ensure it is disabled. If you do, ensure access is restricted and strong passwords are set. Use rate limiting to block login attempts after a set number of failures and ensure multifactor authentication is implemented to stop stolen credentials from being used.
For further information on SpamTitan Email Security and to find out how you can improve your defenses against email and web-based attacks, contact the TitanHQ team today.