This Trojan exploits antivirus software to steal your data

[Mohammad.Poorya]

Astaroth disguises itself as image and GIF files to infect PCs.

A new strain of the Astaroth Trojan has been given the capability to exploit vulnerable processes in antivirus software and services.
Cybereason's Nocturnus Research team said in a blog post published on Wednesday that the variant is able to utilize modules in cybersecurity software in order to steal online credentials and personal data.
In its latest form, Astaroth is being used in spam campaigns across Brazil and Europe, with thousands of infections recorded at the end of 2018. The malware spreads through .7zip file attachments and malicious links.
The cybersecurity researchers said the Trojan masquerades as a JPEG, .GIF, or an extensionless file to avoid detection when executed on a machine.
If a spam email or phishing messages prove successful and the file is downloaded and opened, the legitimate Microsoft Windows BITSAdmin tool is used to download the full payload from a command-and-control (C2) server.