PrivateLoader Trojan Rented to Cybercriminals
A new malware-as-a-service scheme has been uncovered by malware researchers. The new campaign aims to offer the PrivateLoader Trojan to cybercriminals who are willing to pay a price. Instead of using a fixed price subscription module, the creators of this Trojan Loader are relying on a pay-per-install (PPI) scheme. This strategy is used by tons of legitimate software suites, and it seems that cybercriminals are starting to adopt it as well. This means that criminals who rent the PrivateLoader Trojan for personal use will need to pay a fixed price for every successful infection.
It is not clear who the creators of the PrivateLoader Trojan, and whether they are one of the Advanced Persistent Threat (APT) actors focusing on malware-as-a-service (MaaS) operations. However, the earliest infections with the PrivateLoader Trojan date back to May 2021, so it seems that their operation has been successful for nearly a year. Currently, the PrivateLoader Trojan has been used in combination with multiple high-profile malware families like Vidar, RedLine, and SmokeLoader – evidence that the criminals are attracting some of the big players in the cybercrime field.
The purpose of the PrivateLoader Trojan is to seamlessly deliver additional payloads to infected devices. It seems that the creators behind it are relying mainly on cracked software and game downloads to host the malicious content. Needless to say, interacting with such illegal types of digital data is an easy way to expose your system to malware.
Keep in mind that the PrivateLoader Trojan does not go after enterprises or companies – individual, regular users like you are its target. You should take the necessary measures to protect your system by using a reputable anti-malware service.
