Betabot Botnet

Betabot (also known as Neurevt) is a botnet that originated as a banking trojan/password stealer and evolved over time with new functionality. Infected hosts are leveraged to distribute malware.

Threat ID:: CC-1241
Category:: Botnet, Trojan
Threat Severity:: Medium
Threat Vector:
Published:: 8 March 2017 12:00 AM

Report a cyber attack: call 0300 303 5222 or email [email protected]

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Summary

Betabot (also known as Neurevt) is a botnet that originated as a banking trojan/password stealer and evolved over time with new functionality. Infected hosts are leveraged to distribute malware.

Affected platforms

The following platforms are known to be affected:

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows - all versions

Threat details

This includes ransomware.

Betabot can be bought as a service on the dark web, which allows unskilled criminals to launch their own botnets with little technical knowledge. It can disable up to 30 different antivirus/security programs when it infects a new host. Some of the commands issued to the botnet include:

Launching a Distributed Denial of Service attack against a given target
Downloading and executing a file from a given URL
Stealing information from forms displayed in a web browser
Creating a SOCKS4 proxy – allowing others to redirect browser traffic through the victim’s IP address

The threat actors have applied anti-piracy controls, but some criminals are also using a cracked Betabot builder to copy its functionality rather than having to create their own trojan.

Threat updates

Date	Update
20 Jun 2018	Security researchers have observed Betabot being distributed via Word documents that exploit a vulnerability in Microsoft Equation Editor (CVE-2017-11882).

Remediation advice

To prevent and detect a trojan infection, ensure that:

Remediation steps

Type	Step
	A robust program of education and awareness training is delivered to users to ensure they don’t open attachments or follow links within unsolicited emails. All operating systems, antivirus and other security products are kept up to date. All day to day computer activities such as email and internet are performed using non-administrative accounts. Strong password policies are in place and password reuse is discouraged. Network, proxy and firewall logs should be monitored for suspicious activity. User accounts accessed from infected machines should be reset on a clean computer.

Type

Step

A robust program of education and awareness training is delivered to users to ensure they don’t open attachments or follow links within unsolicited emails.
All operating systems, antivirus and other security products are kept up to date.
All day to day computer activities such as email and internet are performed using non-administrative accounts.
Strong password policies are in place and password reuse is discouraged.
Network, proxy and firewall logs should be monitored for suspicious activity.

User accounts accessed from infected machines should be reset on a clean computer.

CVE Vulnerabilities

Status

CVE-2017-11882

Last edited: 17 February 2020 11:27 am