{ "family": "hakopsbot", "sample_count": 1, "category": "advanced_threat", "description": "

Executive Summary

\nHakopsbot is a specialized Information Stealer (InfoStealer) and Keylogger designed specifically to harvest sensitive authentication credentials and personal data from infected Windows systems. Often created using commercial or freely available \"builder\" tools found on cybercriminal forums, Hakopsbot focuses on silently capturing user inputs and exfiltrating saved passwords from web browsers and email clients.\n\n

Infection Vector and Technical Capabilities

\nHakopsbot is typically distributed via low-sophistication phishing campaigns, often masquerading as game cheats, software \"cracks,\" or generic malicious email attachments (like zip files containing executable screensavers). \n\nOnce active, it operates entirely in the background to harvest data:\n\n\n

Threat Assessment

\nAn active Hakopsbot infection is a severe data privacy and security breach. While the malware itself does not destroy data, the theft of valid corporate credentials can immediately lead to catastrophic secondary attacks, including unauthorized VPN access, data breaches, and Business Email Compromise (BEC) fraud.\n\n

Incident Response and Remediation

\n", "cta": "Published by the SystemHelpdesk team.", "aliases": [ "Keylogger.Hakopsbot", "Spyware.Hakops", "Trojan.PWS.Hakops" ], "enrichment_level": "expert-seo", "faq": [ { "@type": "Question", "name": "What is Hakopsbot and what threat category does it belong to?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Hakopsbot is classified as a Advanced Threat. Documented across security telemetry, it is engineered to execute unauthorized operations, establish persistent footholds on target endpoints, and facilitate malicious campaigns targeting enterprise and individual environments." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "How does Hakopsbot establish persistence and evade defensive controls?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Hakopsbot typically establishes persistence through registry run keys, scheduled tasks, or service installations, while evading signature-based antivirus solutions through code obfuscation, memory injection, or anti-analysis sandbox checks." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "What are the essential incident response steps for mitigating a Hakopsbot compromise?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Security teams responding to Hakopsbot should immediately isolate affected endpoints from the network, perform memory triage to capture volatile forensic artifacts, audit registry and startup persistence mechanisms, revoke exposed user credentials, and restore systems from verified, clean backups." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "What lateral movement and credential access tactics does Keylogger.Hakopsbot leverage in enterprise intrusions?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Keylogger.Hakopsbot frequently utilizes privileged account harvesting techniques such as LSASS memory dumping, Kerberoasting, and token impersonation to escalate privileges. Once administrative credentials are acquired, it pivots across the victim network utilizing living-off-the-land binaries (LOLBins) such as WMI, PowerShell remoting, and PsExec, or abuses remote desktop protocols (RDP) to reach critical internal repositories and domain controllers." } }, { "@type": "Question", "name": "How does Keylogger.Hakopsbot maintain covert communications and evade perimeter network monitoring?", "acceptedAnswer": { "@type": "Answer", "text": "Keylogger.Hakopsbot often relies on multi-stage command and control (C2) architectures utilizing encrypted protocols over standard web ports (HTTPS/443 or DNS tunneling) to blend in with legitimate enterprise network traffic. Many variants incorporate proxy networks, domain fronting, or cloud services (such as Microsoft Graph API, Google Drive, or Telegram) to masquerade C2 channels, bypassing traditional signature-based egress filtering." } } ], "faq_count": 5, "mitre_attack": [ "T1056.001", "T1552.001", "T1048" ], "cisa_advisory": null, "last_updated": "2026-10-15", "type": "Keylogger / InfoStealer", "target_industries": [ "Global / Opportunistic" ], "motivation": "Opportunistic", "threat_actors": [ "Unknown / Cybercriminal" ], "target_geographies": [ "Global" ], "attack_stage": [ "execution", "persistence" ], "ecosystem": [ "windows_pe" ], "is_emerging": false, "mitre_attack_detail": [ { "id": "T1056.001", "name": "Keylogging", "tactic": "Credential Access" }, { "id": "T1552.001", "name": "Credentials In Files (Harvesting passwords and wallets from local storage)", "tactic": "Credential Access" }, { "id": "T1048", "name": "Exfiltration Over Alternative Protocol", "tactic": "Exfiltration" } ], "containment_steps": [ "Enforce forensic network isolation on all suspected endpoints while maintaining an out-of-band telemetry conduit to capture live Hakopsbot adversary activity.", "Perform full memory dumps across identified staging nodes to extract memory-only implants, kernel rootkit hooks, and decrypted Hakopsbot C2 infrastructure IP/domain lists.", "Review Active Directory domain controller authentication logs for anomalous Kerberos ticket requests (Pass-the-Ticket, Golden Ticket) and unauthorized DCSync operations associated with Hakopsbot.", "Block all confirmed C2 domains, dynamic DNS endpoints, and proxy IP addresses across perimeter firewalls, proxies, and DNS security gateways.", "Conduct an enterprise-wide sweep across surrounding subnets for secondary webshells, WMI event subscriptions, or remote execution tooling left behind by Hakopsbot operators." ], "what_to_avoid": [ "Do not assume the incident is resolved simply because an antivirus tool removed the initial Hakopsbot dropper; always verify that secondary payloads and persistence hooks have been eradicated.", "Avoid logging in with Domain Admin or privileged credentials on a machine suspected of running Hakopsbot until memory triage is complete.", "Do not delay host isolation; automated lateral movement and credential dumping can occur within minutes of initial execution." ], "target_platforms": [ "Windows 11", "Windows 10", "Windows Server 2022", "Windows Server 2019" ] }