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A recent report by Huntress, a leading endpoint security provider overseeing more than 2 million devices across SMBs, reveals that 24% of cyber incidents in 2024 involved infostealers. Additionally, 22% involved malicious scripts, and 17% involved malware, highlighting the evolving threat landscape.
Read the full report here: Huntress 2024 Threat Report
You Should Know: Detecting and Preventing Infostealer Attacks
Infostealers are malicious programs designed to harvest sensitive data, including credentials, financial details, and personal information. Below are key commands, tools, and steps to detect and mitigate such threats.
1. Detecting Infostealers on Linux
Use these commands to identify suspicious processes and network connections:
Check running processes ps aux | grep -i "stealer|keylogger|credential" Monitor network connections netstat -tulnp | grep -E "(exe|dll|scr)" Scan for known infostealer signatures sudo clamscan -r --bell -i /home
2. Windows Detection & Removal
Use PowerShell and Sysinternals tools to hunt for infostealers:
List suspicious auto-start programs
Get-CimInstance Win32_StartupCommand | Select-Object Name, Command, Location
Scan for malware using Windows Defender
Start-MpScan -ScanType FullScan
Check for unusual scheduled tasks
Get-ScheduledTask | Where-Object { $_.TaskName -like "steal" }
3. Analyzing Malicious Scripts
Since 22% of incidents involved malicious scripts, inspect scripts with:
Check for obfuscated PowerShell scripts strings suspicious.ps1 | grep -i "Invoke-Expression|IEX|DownloadString" Use YARA rules to detect script-based malware yara -r /path/to/scripts malware_rules.yar
4. Preventing Infostealer Infections
- Enable EDR/XDR solutions (Huntress, CrowdStrike, SentinelOne).
- Enforce application whitelisting:
Linux: Use AppArmor sudo aa-enforce /etc/apparmor.d/bin.ping
- Block malicious domains via firewall:
sudo iptables -A OUTPUT -d malware-domain.com -j DROP
What Undercode Say
Infostealers remain a critical threat, leveraging phishing, malicious scripts, and exploit kits. Proactive defense requires:
– Behavioral monitoring (Sysmon, Auditd).
– Memory forensics (Volatility, Rekall).
– Automated threat hunting (Elastic SIEM, Splunk).
Key Commands Recap:
Memory dump analysis (Linux) sudo dd if=/dev/mem of=/tmp/mem.dump Check for hidden processes (Windows) tasklist /v | findstr /i "hidden" Extract suspicious URLs from logs grep -Eo 'http[bash]?://[^ ]+' /var/log/apache2/access.log | sort | uniq
Stay vigilant—regularly update security tools and enforce least-privilege access.
Expected Output:
A structured cybersecurity report with detection techniques, prevention strategies, and actionable commands for Linux and Windows environments.
References:
Reported By: Alon Gal – Hackers Feeds
Extra Hub: Undercode MoN
Basic Verification: Pass ✅
