Cyber-crooks develop tools to test malware before distribution

According to PandaLabs, cyber-crooks are looking for ways to test their creations before distributing them.

An investigation conducted by the malware analysis and detection laboratory at Panda Security, has shown that cyber-crooks are collaborating on different forums and pages to develop test-tools that replicate the scans of some of the leading security solutions.

This allows hackers to check their creations will be undetected before launching them.

“The tool is very similar to Hispasec’s legitimate ‘Virus Total’ tool. In fact, the increasing interest in these new tools coincides with the removal of the “do not distribute the sample” option in ‘Virus Total’ which allowed files to be scanned without sending the sample to security companies,” explained Luis Corrons, Technical Director of PandaLabs.

These tools represent another piece of the new malware dynamic, in which cyber-crooks no longer seek to cause widespread alerts and make the headlines, but to go unnoticed. They therefore want to check their creations are undetected by companies before launching them.

“Even if their creations were detected by one or two companies, they could still launch them, as they would affect all users with different security technologies,” says Luis Corrons.