MALWARE HISTORY - ROOTKITS

They can camouflage themselves among other legitimate processes running onto the system, which dramatically increases discovery and disinfection times.

 

Rootkits are not only extremely difficult to detect, but they are also impossible to manually disinfect by the average computer user. Even specialized antivirus programs are sometimes incapable of cleaning them. Bitdefender products include an Anti-Rootkit module for detecting and eliminating hidden security threats.

 

Rootkits are also designed to take complete control over the entire affected computer, without user’s consent. The “rootkit” term shows that this type of malware is running with the highest available privileges (root access defines the highest level of control in an Unix-based environment), and can evade even the toughest security mechanisms built into the operating system. Rootkits are also capable of hiding their concealing running processes from monitoring programs, or even hiding system files from the operating system.

Despite their destructive potential, rootkits do not always perform malicious tasks. For instance, many commercially-available pieces of software make use of rootkit technology to hide themselves from miscellaneous security applications or from the operating system itself. This practice is mostly encountered on emulation software, such as the well known Daemon Tools and Alcohol 120%.

Although the Daemon Tools rootkit technology can not be labeled as malware, the last versions of the so-popular software come bundled with adware applications (When U Save).