'Polymorphic malware': The new headache for cops and users
Unlike regular viruses, which have a fixed structure, polymorphic malware rewrites itself each time it spreads. This makes it all the more difficult to detect.
Cybercriminals are now using 'polymorphic malware', a virus that constantly alters its code to evade detection.
This evolving threat has made it even harder for investigators to crack cybercrime cases, with only 1,248 of the 20,092 cases detected in 2024.
Unlike traditional malware, polymorphic malware, which police officials call as a 'digital chameleon' keeps changing its form while spreading, making it difficult for antivirus programs to detect because every time it infects a new device, it looks different from before.
Traditional security systems rely on recognising fixed patterns, but polymorphic malware hides its identity by modifying its code, encrypting itself, or scrambling its structure.
Unlike traditional malware, polymorphic malware, which police officials call as a 'digital chameleon' keeps changing its form while spreading, making it difficult for antivirus programs to detect because every time it infects a new device, it looks different from before.
Traditional security systems rely on recognising fixed patterns, but polymorphic malware hides its identity by modifying its code, encrypting itself, or scrambling its structure.
Why polymorphic malware is a challenge?
Explaining Polymorphic Malware, the official said fraudsters disguise this malware as normally as they do with any other virus — via legitimate file, after which it enters a system through phishing emails, fake software downloads, or malicious website links, tricking users into clicking on it.
Once the malware is executed, it immediately starts changing its code, ensuring that antivirus programs fail to recognize it. Unlike regular viruses, which have a fixed structure, polymorphic malware rewrites itself each time it spreads.
Once inside, the malware first encrypts itself, scrambling its code into an unreadable format so that security software cannot identify it, sometimes even injecting extra, meaningless lines of code just to appear different, further confusing detection systems.
The malware then activates key logging tools, which silently record everything the user types, including passwords, credit card details, and banking credentials.
In some cases, it redirects users to fake banking websites, where victims unknowingly enter their login details, handing them over to hackers. Once the criminals obtain this information, they can transfer funds, make unauthorized purchases, or even lock users out of their accounts.
In addition to financial theft, polymorphic malware often spreads within a network, infecting multiple devices. Every time it moves to a new system, it alters its structure again, ensuring that even if one version is detected, the next version remains undetected. Some variants also operate as ‘fileless malware,’ running entirely in the computer’s memory instead of being stored on the hard drive, making removal even more difficult, the officer said.
By the time security tools realise what has happened, the malware erases its tracks or self-destructs, leaving no trace behind.
All of these make it impossible to escape from once it has made its way into your system. So, the key step is to avoid falling prey to it by downloading unknown .exe files, clicking on malicious website links or downloading fake software as mentioned earlier.
