Russian hackers use malware that can survive a system reinstall

According to ESET, Russian hackers use malware that can survive on a Windows computer even after a complete reinstallation of the system.

The company discovered malware called "Lojax" that comes from a hacker group known as "Fancy Bear". Malware crawls security shields (such as antivirus software) by mimicking the behavior of the LoJack tool. This tool protects your computer from theft, which means that it is definitely difficult to remove from your computer.

Since this software is intended to protect the system from thieves, it is important that it be resistant to removal when reinstalling the system or replacing the hard drive. That is why it is implemented in the UEFI / BIOS chip itself

- states ESET.

Fancy Bears "armed" LoJack and created malware that can go through protection in the computer. ESET states that many manufacturers of computer security tools let LoJack work because it is designed to protect against theft and requires all possible system permissions.

When Lojax infects a UEFI module, it can remain there after replacing the HDD. The only way to remove it is to flash UEFI firmware, which many users do not know how to do.

ESET said Lojax was the first UEFI Rootkit to be seen in real use. So far, security experts have only talked about possible UEFI Rootkits, although no one has ever used them.

The company did not want to reveal the owner of the computer on which they discovered the malware. However, they warned that the Fancy Bear group used various components of Lojax to infect the systems of government organizations in the Balkans and some other Central and Eastern European countries.

However, the good news for all users is that the computer can be protected from Lojax by simply turning on the "Secure Boot" option. This option verifies that all computer components, including firmware, are authentic with a digital certificate issued by the manufacturer. Lojax just doesn’t pass this test. The Secure Boot option is enabled by default for Windows 10 systems, and if someone does not, it can be manually enabled in the BIOS options.