{
  "family": "autohit",
  "sample_count": 3,
  "category": "trojan",
  "description": "Autohit (classified in antivirus detection telemetry under designations including Trojan:Win32/Autohit, Trojan.Win32.Autohit, and Win32/Autohit) is a multi-stage trojan engineered to disguise itself as legitimate software, execute unauthorized commands, and coordinate with external command-and-control infrastructure. Disseminated across enterprise networks and consumer workstations via social engineering, phishing attachments, malicious drive-by downloads, or weaponized software cracks, Autohit executes an initial reconnaissance phase upon system ingress. The binary evaluates host privileges, detects active hypervisors and sandbox environments to evade behavioral analysis, and establishes resilient autostart persistence by configuring registry keys under HKCU\\Software\\Microsoft\\Windows\\CurrentVersion\\Run or registering background Windows services. Operational mechanics characteristic of this family include deceptive executable masquerading, registry run key autostart, system telemetry gathering, and remote C2 beaconing. Outbound communication is established with remote threat actor infrastructure to beacon operational status and receive tasking, posing significant security risks to data integrity and host availability.",
  "cta": "Published by the SystemHelpdesk Threat Intelligence Team.",
  "aliases": [
    "Trojan:Win32/Autohit",
    "Trojan.Win32.Autohit",
    "Win32/Autohit"
  ],
  "enrichment_level": "curated_sourced",
  "faq": [
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "What is Trojan:Win32/Autohit?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "Autohit is a trojan threat designed to infiltrate Windows systems and execute unauthorized operations without user consent."
      }
    },
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "How does Autohit compromise target systems?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "It commonly infiltrates systems via phishing emails, trojanized software installers, exploit kits, or unpatched vulnerabilities."
      }
    },
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "What persistence mechanisms does Autohit utilize?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "It typically creates autostart entries in the Windows Registry (HKCU/HKLM Run keys), registers scheduled tasks, or installs hidden background services."
      }
    },
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "What risks does Autohit pose to an enterprise?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "It can lead to credential theft, system manipulation, unauthorized remote access, data loss, or secondary malware delivery."
      }
    },
    {
      "@type": "Question",
      "name": "How can administrators detect and eliminate Autohit?",
      "acceptedAnswer": {
        "@type": "Answer",
        "text": "Deploy modern EDR solutions with updated behavioral signatures, isolate infected endpoints, audit autostart persistence entries, and conduct full antimalware scans."
      }
    }
  ],
  "faq_count": 5,
  "mitre_attack": [
    "T1059.003",
    "T1027",
    "T1547.001",
    "T1071.001",
    "T1105"
  ],
  "cisa_advisory": null,
  "last_updated": "2026-10-16",
  "mitre_attack_detail": [
    {
      "id": "T1496",
      "name": "Resource Hijacking (Consuming bandwidth for ad fraud)",
      "tactic": "Impact"
    },
    {
      "id": "T1071.001",
      "name": "Application Layer Protocol: Web Protocols (Simulating web traffic)",
      "tactic": "Command and Control"
    },
    {
      "id": "T1547.001",
      "name": "Boot or Logon Autostart Execution",
      "tactic": "Persistence"
    },
    {
      "id": "T1189",
      "name": "Drive-by Compromise",
      "tactic": "Initial Access"
    }
  ],
  "containment_steps": [
    "Isolate the endpoint from the network to halt the generation of fraudulent traffic and conserve bandwidth.",
    "Use Task Manager or Process Explorer to identify and terminate the hidden, resource-intensive browser processes.",
    "Run a comprehensive anti-malware scan to remove the Autohit executable and its persistence mechanisms.",
    "Review proxy logs to identify the domains targeted for click fraud and the C2 servers providing the URL lists, and block them."
  ],
  "what_to_avoid": [
    "Do not ignore instances of users complaining about slow internet speeds, as this is a primary symptom of a background clickbot infection.",
    "Avoid treating click fraud malware purely as a nuisance; the same mechanisms used to deploy Autohit could be used to deploy ransomware."
  ],
  "target_industries": [
    "Global / Opportunistic"
  ],
  "motivation": "Opportunistic",
  "threat_actors": [
    "Unknown / Cybercriminal"
  ],
  "target_geographies": [
    "Global"
  ],
  "attack_stage": [
    "execution",
    "persistence"
  ],
  "ecosystem": [
    "windows_pe"
  ],
  "is_emerging": false,
  "sources": [
    {
      "name": "Microsoft Defender Threat Encyclopedia - Trojan:Win32/Autohit",
      "url": "https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/wdsi/threats/malware-encyclopedia-description?Name=Trojan:Win32/Autohit"
    },
    {
      "name": "Kaspersky Threat Intelligence - Trojan.Win32.Autohit",
      "url": "https://threats.kaspersky.com/en/threat/"
    },
    {
      "name": "MITRE ATT&CK - Enterprise Techniques",
      "url": "https://attack.mitre.org/techniques/T1059.003/"
    }
  ],
  "target_platforms": [
    "Windows 11",
    "Windows 10",
    "Windows 7"
  ]
}