Rootkits Get Better at Hiding

A new Trojan horse is so good at hiding itself that some security researchers claim a new chapter has begun in their battle against malicious-code authors. The new pest, dubbed “Rustock” by Symantec and “Mailbot.AZ” by F-Secure, uses “rootkit” techniques crafted to avoid the detection technology used by security software.

Rootkits are considered an emerging threat. They are used to make system changes to hide software, which may be malicious. In the case of Rustock or Mailbot.AZ, rootkit technology was used to hide a Trojan horse that opens a backdoor on an infected system, putting it at the beck and call of an attacker, according to Symantec.