What Is RootKit And How To Detect It?

In today’s article, we will try to know what is Rootkit? And the strategy used by the attacker to reach the victim’s device? And how to prevent this attack? How do you know if the device is infected with Rootkit? These and other questions we will try to answer in this article.

What are RootKits, they are software that works invisibly and hides other software such as Viruses and Spyware in the victim’s computer and uses the lower layers of operating systems, mostly in the form of a file that you receive in your email or with a program you downloaded, and attackers use deception methods to The victim runs that file on his device and gets directly infected with Rootkit, and Rootkit, in general, it’s not a bad thing it has many advantages and used for positive things, but the person is bad because he uses it in a negative way. As for Rootkit as a technology, it is a positive and useful thing.

As for the term RootKit, it came from the Unix operating system and its similar systems such as Linux, and the word Root means the package manager in the Unix and Kit, it means the kit or a set of tools, despite this, Rootkit is not limited to the Unix and similar systems such as Linux. It includes other operating systems such as macOS and Windows of various versions.

The Rootkit gives the attacker full powers to access the resources and system files of the victim’s device. The attacker can read all the files in the device such as photos, videos, and audio recordings and can send copies of them via the Internet to another device, and also gives him the authority to operate all the device’s tools such as the microphone and record and send audio recordings To another device via the Internet, and he cannot turn on the camera and take pictures or videos and send them to another device, and he can also see the accounts registered in this device and see the password if it is registered in the browser, and also if the device is connected to the Internet, the attacker can see the screen of the device, meaning he monitors your movements On the screen where do you enter, with whom do you talk, but it has to be connected to the Internet, and this makes Rootkit one of the most dangerous types of software and it looks like Trojan.

What are the strategies that attackers rely on to infect a victim’s device with a Rootkit?

Attackers do not rely on one strategy, but every attacker relies on a specific strategy, and you will learn about some of these strategies:

One of the strategies that attackers rely on is to exploit the loopholes in the operating system of the victim’s device. The attacker exploits gaps formed in the operating system to install a Rootkit in the device and carry out the attack. This strategy is difficult and requires high techniques and capabilities. It is difficult to find loopholes in the operating system because the exploit hunters discover the gaps and report and they fix it, but this strategy is used in major hacks, for example, hacking a giant company or hacking large organizations. Here, these large companies and organizations take very strict precautions. So for example you cannot use a social engineering strategy with them. Here the solution is the operating system, so they search for loopholes or buy them from the Dark Web.

Another strategy that the attackers use is social engineering, and they use it to deceive the victim by running a file they send to him in the e-mail. In this strategy, they do it on ordinary people, not companies, and who do not have knowledge of the field. This strategy cannot rely on a company or anyone who is skilled in this field. It is impossible. Here they use very smart methods of deception, and in the end, the file works, and the device infects with Rootkit. This is one of the methods they use and there are other methods, but we cannot mention all the strategies.

What does the attacker do after the victim’s device is infected with a Rootkit?

The first thing that the attacker does is that he tries to hide the traces of the hack so that the victim does not discover that his device has been hacked. For example, Rootkit hides any operation in the process and also hides the files that the attacker placed in the device, and also modifies the system commands to give fake results to the victim, so he can’t know that there are changes in the system.
After hiding the evidence of a breach of the device, now the attacker starts working and tries to solve the backdoors in the system for the attacker to send data from them and to control the device. One of the methods they use in this case is to open an SSH communication channel that gives the attacker the ability to reach the device and control it.

After that, the attacker monitors, searches, and classifies the files and documents in the device classifies them according to their importance to him and takes copies of the files that interest him, and sends them via the Internet.
After that, the attacker sees the electronic accounts opened in the device, such as the accounts of social networking sites and the information of the bank cards that the victim occupied in the device.

How can you protect your device from these attacks?

The first thing is to try to update your operating system periodically to cover the gaps and avoid using copies of the operating system that have been not supported, for example in Windows 7.
Try to avoid downloading programs from unknown sources and from unofficial places and try to download files from official sites only. Try not to fall victim to reverse engineering methods, for example, when you put a notification on Facebook that you need a crack for a specific program and you receive an unknown email saying this crack is valid for this program.
Try to put a strong password for your device and no one knows it. Do not let your computer open to people you do not trust because in seconds a rootkit file can be downloaded and run on the device. Try to avoid unknown programs that have these extensions .bat, .vbs, .mdb, .wsf …

Here we are at the end of this article, I hope you liked it.

Thanks for reading.

Ayoub,