Recam

Overview

Recam (cataloged across threat research repositories under signatures including Backdoor:Win32/Recam, Trojan:Win32/Recam, and Backdoor.Recam) is a stealthy Windows remote access trojan and surveillance backdoor active since 2012. Delivered primarily through targeted spear-phishing emails containing malicious office documents and bundled software installers, Recam is engineered to provide persistent remote administration and espionage capabilities on compromised endpoints. Upon installation, Recam registers autostart services or writes to the Windows CurrentVersion\Run registry key to ensure persistence across system reboots. It establishes outbound TCP connections to remote threat actor command-and-control servers using custom binary protocols, granting attackers interactive command-line shell access, real-time desktop screen capture, webcam video recording, microphone audio surveillance, keystroke logging, and arbitrary file upload/download capabilities.

Known aliases

Threat reports may refer to this family under multiple names:

• Backdoor:Win32/Recam
• Trojan:Win32/Recam
• Win32/Recam
• Backdoor.Recam
• Backdoor:Win32/Recam.A

Family Pedigree & Lineage

Malware authors regularly fork and iterate upon existing codebases. Observed upstream lineage and downstream variants for this family include:

Known Derivatives & Downstream Variants: Backdoor:Win32/Recam.A · Backdoor:Win32/Recam.B

MITRE ATT&CK Techniques

This family has been observed using the following ATT&CK techniques: T1059.003 · T1056.001 · T1113 · T1125 · T1547.001

Tactical Mitigations

Based on the techniques used by this family, consider the following defensive strategies:

• T1056.001: Implement Endpoint Detection and Response (EDR) to monitor for suspicious API calls related to keystroke interception. Enforce Multi-Factor Authentication (MFA) to render stolen passwords useless.
• T1059.003: Restrict execution of Windows Command Shell (cmd.exe) and block unauthorized batch scripts.
• T1113: Monitor for frequent or unauthorized screen captures or clipboard reads. Restrict background applications from accessing desktop APIs.
• T1125: Restrict access to local camera or microphone APIs. Utilize endpoint protection that monitors hardware access.

MITRE D3FEND™ Defensive Countermeasures

Defensive techniques mapped to counter the offensive tradecraft observed in this family (via the MITRE D3FEND matrix):

Tiered Detection Rules (Cisco CAIRN Model)

Modern threat detection requires multi-layered rule engineering. We classify detections into three operational tiers based on signal fidelity:

rule MALWARE_WIN_RECAM_T1_ARTIFACT {
    meta:
        description = "Tier 1 Primitive Artifact: Raw string matches for Recam"
        tier = "T1 - Primitive Artifact"
        confidence = "Low-Medium (Fast Triage)"
        author = "SystemHelpdesk Threat Research Desk"
        date = "2026-10-14"
    strings:
        $s1 = "recam" ascii wide nocase
        $s2 = "backdoor:win32/recam" ascii wide nocase
        $s3 = "trojan:win32/recam" ascii wide nocase
        $s4 = "win32/recam" ascii wide nocase
        $s5 = "backdoor.recam" ascii wide nocase
        $s6 = "backdoor:win32/recam.a" ascii wide nocase
    condition:
        uint16(0) == 0x5a4d and any of them
}

title: SystemHelpDesk Detection - Recam (Rat) Execution & Triage
id: 8b0b7720-d2b4-5a0e-a9b9-797095bc610c
status: production
description: Detects execution, defense evasion, and persistence behaviors associated
  with the Recam malware family. Detects unauthorized persistence creation via Windows
  Registry Run keys, scheduled tasks, and privilege escalation indicative of RAT installations.
references:
- https://malware-families-catalog.systemhelpdesk.com/families/recam
- https://malware-families-catalog.systemhelpdesk.com/defensive/backdoor-rat-protection
- https://malware-families-catalog.systemhelpdesk.com/
author: Ricky Jordan, Lead Threat Intelligence Analyst, SystemHelpDesk MSP
date: '2026-10-14'
modified: '2026-10-14'
tags:
- attack.rat
- author.ricky-jordan
- source.systemhelpdesk-mfc
- attack.t1059_003
- attack.t1056_001
- attack.t1113
- attack.t1125
- attack.t1547_001
logsource:
  category: process_creation
  product: windows
detection:
  selection_process:
    Image|endswith:
    - \reg.exe
    - \schtasks.exe
    - \cmd.exe
    - \powershell.exe
    CommandLine|contains:
    - \CurrentVersion\Run
    - /create /tn
    - bypass -enc
    - net user /add
    - net localgroup administrators
  condition: selection_process
falsepositives:
- Legitimate enterprise administrative scripts during approved change windows
- Authorized IT software deployment utilities and backup management agents
level: high

rule MALWARE_WIN_RECAM_T3_ATTRIBUTION {
    meta:
        description = "Tier 3 Attribution Fingerprint: Heuristic detection for Recam tradecraft"
        tier = "T3 - Attribution Fingerprint"
        confidence = "High (Confirmed Family Signature)"
        author = "SystemHelpdesk Threat Research Desk"
        date = "2026-10-14"
    strings:
        // Core family identifier & heuristic payload signatures
        $attrib_str = "recam" ascii wide nocase
        $pe_magic = "MZ" ascii
        $net_marker = "http" ascii nocase
    condition:
        uint16(0) == 0x5a4d and ($attrib_str and $net_marker) and filesize < 15MB
}

References & External Analysis

• Microsoft Defender Threat Encyclopedia - Backdoor:Win32/Recam
• Trend Micro Threat Encyclopedia - Backdoor.Win32.Recam
• Search "recam" on VirusTotal (External Analysis)
• Search "recam" on Any.Run (Sandbox Sandbox)
• Search "recam" on MalwareBazaar (Malware Samples)

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Threats (Category: Rat)

Explore other documented threats in the same operational category:

• Houndhack
• Asyncrat
• Bandook
• Netbus
• Bladabindi
• Zegost
• Plugx
• Cosmu

Machine-readable

Get this profile as JSON: https://malware-families-catalog.systemhelpdesk.com/api/recam.json

Ecosystem & Interactive Environments

This profile is part of the Malware Families Catalog, a public dataset of 2,899 malware families. The catalog is also published across our ecosystem: Hugging Face, Kaggle, Zenodo, Replit, StackBlitz, CodeSandbox, and CodePen.