What Is Emotet? And How to Protect Yourself From This Persistent Trojan Malware | Antivirus

The Emotet Trojan is one of the biggest threats in recent years. Learn about protective measures to help counter infection.

Emotet is a banking Trojan that steals sensitive information from individuals, such as credit card information. It has been in hiding since 2014 and has evolved significantly in recent years, becoming a serious threat that infiltrates corporate networks and spreads other types of malware.

Emotet is an advanced modular banking Trojan that primarily acts as a downloader or carrier for other banking Trojans and is very difficult to combat as it evades typical signature detection and spreads on its own. Emotet infections cost global banks millions of US dollars per incident.

Emotet poses a significant risk to individuals and businesses of all sizes. can do to protect your business from this malicious Trojan malware.

How Emotet infects the network?

The recipient is persuaded to click a link or open a file and inadvertently runs a macro that downloads the malicious file. As soon as a device becomes infected, Emotet starts spreading to other devices on the network.

Emotet takes a cue from other malicious threats such as WannaCry and becomes more powerful, gaining the ability to spread laterally and instantly infect entire networks. It is a modular Trojan that is often used as the vanguard of a larger attack, breaking through external defenses and then downloading other banking Trojans and spreading them throughout the network.

You can take effective measures to protect against it. Here are a couple of ways.

 

How to prevent Emotet Trojan infection

This concept can be applied in several ways.

First, make sure there are no unsecured devices on your network. Take steps to identify and protect unmanaged devices. Eliminate potential blind spots such as IoT devices. Even if Emotet appears to be confined to an unprotected machine, the threat has not been neutralized because it is polymorphic, constantly updated, and is working towards spreading further. If you have enough time, chances are good of finding a security vulnerability that you can exploit.

If you scan your network, then patch all unprotected machines and make sure all devices have the latest endpoint protection, you can significantly reduce your risk of infection. This will help counter a variety of threats, not just Emotet.

It is also necessary to take into account the human factor. Since infection starts with humans, think about how to combat phishing attacks on mobile devices and develop a comprehensive security training curriculum.

As Emotet is constantly evolving, it is imperative to have the latest anti-malware protection and carefully consider your endpoint detection and response approach.

 

How to stop Emotet from spreading

 

Perhaps the most annoying thing about Emotet is that it acts as a gateway to various Trojans and other malware. The banking Trojan and the TrickBot worm are common companions. Each of these malware has its own self-propagation methods and targets different vulnerabilities. Perhaps the most effective action you can take in dealing with Emotet and anything that can happen to it is to focus on fixing known vulnerabilities.

This tip is familiar to any cybersecurity professional, but with good reason - many successful attacks today are the result of known vulnerabilities that needed to be patched. Known vulnerabilities are low-hanging fruit and fixing them could cause malware to explode on your network after successfully infiltrating Emotet. This simple, practical step is essential for anyone serious about their network security.

Once you get the basics down, you need to delve deeper into best practices to create a sophisticated, layered suite of defenses that can ward off malware like Emotet. It is imperative that you become familiar with cybersecurity frameworks, ISO 27001 regulations, and certifications, and join the cybersecurity community to stay on top of the latest advances in the fight against malware. This is a fast-paced area in which you face an enemy that is constantly evolving and looking for weak points, so it takes relentless efforts to keep your finger on the pulse of events. Antivirus protects your pc and laptop from different types of viruses.