Security Response

Trojan.Downbot is a Trojan that is implicated in a widely reported series of targeted information stealing attacks against a wide range of organizations worldwide.
These attacks were initially reported in the media on August 2nd, 2011 when a report was published naming the attack as "Operation Shady RAT". The report described a series of attacks which had been occurring for over five years against over seventy organizations.

The targets ranged from private companies to government agencies located worldwide. In the report, it speculated that these attacks were aimed at stealing highly sensitive and proprietary information belonging to specifically targeted organizations and due to this, may potentially point to a state sponsor being behind these attacks.

More information on Trojan.Downbot is available in the threat family writeup.

With the rapid rise in the number of malware attacks it’s harder than ever to prevent machines from getting infected. But have you done everything you can do? Have you done the things you must do to stay protected? Following some simple best practices can make a tremendous difference in improving your protection. Symantec has assembled a set of best practices for today’s threat landscape.

Use these recommendations to know what you must, should and can do to protect your endpoints from malware.

Want to go further and really beef up protection on your endpoint machines? Symantec Endpoint Protection has a feature called Application and Device Control that gives you additional tools to protect your endpoints. Find out about Application and Device Control and download rulesets especially created by Symantec to increase your protection. Information available here.

W32.Qakbot is a worm that has been seen spreading through network shares, removable drives, and infected webpages, and infecting computers since mid-2009. Its primary purpose is to steal online banking account information from compromised computers. The malware controllers use the stolen information to access client accounts within various financial service websites with the intent of moving currency to accounts from which they can withdraw funds. There are several information stealing Trojans found in cyberspace today. What makes Qakbot stand apart from most of the others is sophistication and continuous evolution. The purpose of this white paper is to provide an insight into the worm's capabilities.

Download the full 'W32.Qakbot in Detail' white paper.

View the full set of Symantec Security Response white papers.