The Azorult Trojan is a dangerous weapon used against computer users worldwide. It infects mainly via infected software installers. Our article gives an overview of its behavior according to the collected samples and available reports, also it may be helpful in attempting to remove the virus.
Threat Summary
| Name | Azorult Trojan |
| Type | Trojan |
| Short Description | The Azorult Trojan is a computer virus that is designed to silently infiltrate computer systems. |
| Symptoms | The victims may not experience any apparent symptoms of infection. |
| Distribution Method | Software Vulnerabilities, Freeware Installations, Bundled Packages, Scripts and others. |
| Detection Tool | See If Your System Has Been Affected by Azorult Trojan Download Malware Removal Tool |
| User Experience | Join Our Forum to Discuss Azorult Trojan. |
Azorult Trojan – Distribution Methods
The Azorult Trojan, alternatively spelled as AZORult, is a dangerous malware which constantly shifts its distribution strategies. The latest release has been found to be released through malicious Google Update installers thus being spread via a payload carrier, in this case a modified application installer. This tactic relies on the acquisition of legitimate setup files of popular application (in this case a Google Product) which are to be modified with the Trojan code and then distributed via various mechanisms. Some of them include the following:
- Email Campaigns — The criminals can coordinate the sending of email messages that coerce the recipients into thinking that they are receiving legitimate notifications from services and companies. In these particular cases the emails may be designed with Google branding and motion the users into installing a newer version of the product. The virus files may be linked in the body contents or directly attached to the emails.
- Malicious Sites — The other strategy is to create and deploy sites that pose as legitimate search engines, product landing pages and etc. They can take various forms and in many cases use similar sounding domain names and security certificates.
- File-Sharing Networks — The installers can be uploaded to networks like BitTorrent which are widely used to distribute both legitimate and pirate content.
- Malicious Document Carriers — The same strategy as the application installers can be used to apply the virus installation commands into documents across all popular types: text documents, presentations, databases and spreadsheets. Whenever they are opened by the victims a prompt will be spawned requesting that they run the scripts in order to correctly view the contents of the file.
- Browser Plugins — The hackers can also create malicious plugins made for the most popular web browsers, alternatively known as “hijackers”. They are widely uploaded to the respective repositories of the browsers using fake developer credentials and user reviews. They will promise enhanced performance and the addition of new features.
Other tactics can be employed as the Azorult Trojan continues to be developed.
Azorult Trojan – Detailed Description
As soon as the Azorult Trojan is delivered to the system it will immediately start to modify the system. The first action that it does is to create a persistent state of execution — this means that it will automatically start with the operating system boot and will be very difficult to remove using manual recovery methods. In many cases malware that have achieved this state will block access to the recovery menus and boot options.
The main goal of the Azorult Trojan is to perform an in-depth information gathering process on the infected machines. It can scan a wide range of contents including the following:
- Personal Information — The engine can acquire information that can be used to directly reveal and expose the identity of the victim users. This is done by programming the Trojan to look for strings like the following: their name, address, phone number, interests and stored account credentials.
- Machine Identification — Each individual computer can be assigned an unique ID which is composed by an algorithm that takes its input values from the list of installed hardware components, user settings, regional preferences and operating system data.
- Financial Assets — Advanced variants of the Azorult Trojan may also scan the browser’s memory in order to search for events related to online banking activities. The Trojan will harvest the entered credentials and transfer them to the hacker operators. The local hard drive, removable storage devices and network shares can also be scanned for any wallets containing digital currencies.
Additionally the main Trojan will install itself in a system location by masking as a legitimate application. The analysis reveals that it also creates entries for itself in the Windows Registry. Potential modification of operating system and third-party apps values can lead to severe performance issues and the inability to use the computer under normal conditions.
Like other Troajns Azorult will establish a secure connection to a hacker-controlled server allowing the hacking group to spy on the victims, take over control of their machines and also acquire sensitive data.
As the virus is based on a modular platform any future versions can include other modules as well. Common ones include the following:
- Data Removal — The Trojan can identify data that if deleted can make recovery very difficult. This includes System Restore Points, Backups and etc.
- Additional Payload Delivery — The Azorult Trojan can be used to download other threats to the compromised computers such as miners and ransomware.
- Botnet Recruitment — Advanced malware threats will reconfigure the machines by recruiting them to a global network of infected machines. Their combined resources can be used to take down designated targets down via the execution of distributed denial-of-service attacks (DDoS) — they are especially useful against large companies or government agencies.
As this threat has seen several versions of development we presume that a different behavior pattern and distribution method will be used in the future.
Remove Azorult Trojan Trojan
If your computer system got infected with the Azorult Trojan Trojan, you should have a bit of experience in removing malware. You should get rid of this Trojan as quickly as possible before it can have the chance to spread further and infect other computers. You should remove the Trojan and follow the step-by-step instructions guide provided below.
Note! Your computer system may be affected by Azorult Trojan and other threats.
Scan Your PC with SpyHunter
SpyHunter is a powerful malware removal tool designed to help users with in-depth system security analysis, detection and removal of Azorult Trojan.
Keep in mind, that SpyHunter’s scanner is only for malware detection. If SpyHunter detects malware on your PC, you will need to purchase SpyHunter’s malware removal tool to remove the malware threats. Read our SpyHunter 5 review. Click on the corresponding links to check SpyHunter’s EULA, Privacy Policy and Threat Assessment Criteria.
To remove Azorult Trojan follow these steps:
1. For Windows XP, Vista and 7.
2. For Windows 8, 8.1 and 10.
Fix registry entries created by malware and PUPs on your PC.
Use SpyHunter to scan for malware and unwanted programs
1. Install SpyHunter to scan for Azorult Trojan and remove them.
Back up your data to secure it from malware in the future.
Martin Beltov
Martin graduated with a degree in Publishing from Sofia University. As a cyber security enthusiast he enjoys writing about the latest threats and mechanisms of intrusion.
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