Malware's Good, Bad & Ugly: ECHO Removal Tool, Rising Threats & A Vicious CEO

The digital world already possesses a commanding position in all our lives—from professional workflows to personal entertainment.

So, it’s no surprise that the digital realm—just like the physical realm—is populated with numerous bad actors trying to trick, con, or rob people. This is quite often done by deploying harmful software applications on their devices using any means possible—and one of the most popular methods currently is malware.

That’s bad, right?

Furthermore, sometimes, even when users are careful about their crusades online, the threat lurks a lot closer to home, coming from trusted sources that unintentionally show vulnerabilities or even bad actors that intentionally install malware.

That’s ugly, right?

However, while malware is prevalent in the digital realm, the space is also home to a wide range of security agents patrolling the cyber streets. These agents consist of real-world law enforcement agencies, as well as software companies that deploy applications and specialized tools to protect users online.

That’s good, right?

Welcome to the good, bad, and ugly side of malware!  

The Good Side Of Malware

A group of researchers hailing from the Georgia Institute of Technology and Kyung Hee University developed a new automated tool that can stop most malware.

Called ECHO, the tool exploits the malware's built-in update mechanism to “distribute crafted remediation payloads.” Basically, it turns the malware against itself by stopping botnets from rebuilding, reducing remediation from days or weeks to just a few minutes.

The tool operates in three stages. First, it understands how a particular malware deploys its malicious code. Second, it learns the capabilities of the deployment mechanism and how that can be repurposed to go against itself. Third, it builds the remediation code that works on the same mechanisms to disable the malware, which is tested and deployed to the system.

In their paper, the researchers mentioned they tested ECHO on 702 Android malware samples and hit success rate of 74.5%, stopping malware in 523 cases. This included warning users about the presence of malware, as well as uninstalling it.

“Our research aims to enable this necessary but challenging remediation step after obtaining legal permission,” the researchers said. “We developed ECHO, an automated malware forensics pipeline that extracts payload deployment routines and generates remediation payloads to disable or remove the frontend bots on infected devices.”

The move came as the researchers recognized that botnet takedowns show limited success in practice, while ample real-world cases of how complex operations can easily fail exist.


In a blog post published by Microsoft Threat Intelligence, the company highlighted a variety of threats observable in Kubernetes environments and containerized assets that are at risk of different types of attacks. The assets include Kubernetes clusters, Kubernetes nodes, Kubernetes workloads, container registries, container images, and more.

Microsoft recognized six primary threat areas:
 

• Compromised accounts where Kubernetes clusters are deployed in public clouds.

• Vulnerable or misconfigured images that are not updated regularly.

• Environment misconfigurations or a lack of authentication/authorization controls could open the door to bad actors through the Kubernetes API.

• Applications could be exploited through SQL injection, cross-site scripting, remote file inclusion, and more.

• Attackers could gain extended access by initially exploiting host nodes/machines.

• Insecure networking between cluster containers and pods could invite malicious traffic if not secured.

Of course, Microsoft didn’t leave readers high and dry—it provided detailed tips and best practices for users to secure their containerized environments.

This included: securing code prior to deployment; securing container deployment and runtime, where users can ensure containers are immutable, can leverage admission controllers, and test containers for vulnerabilities and misconfigurations before deployment; look for malicious API calls and unusual activity; leverage dedicated tools; secure accounts and permissions and how it can be done; secure container images; restrict network traffic; and more.

Microsoft also pointed out how Copilot—its artificial intelligence (AI) tool—can help, as well as other dedicated platforms and tools.

The Bad Side Of Malware

While numerous powerful preventative measures exist, sometimes, they get bypassed—and with AI technology, this only gets worse.

That’s what AI chatbot Claude’s maker, Anthropic, noted.

Through a blog post, the AI startup published a report in which it outlined numerous case studies highlighting how bad actors misused its AI models, as well as provided steps that the company has taken to detect and counter such misuse. 

“The most novel case of misuse detected was a professional 'influence-as-a-service' operation showcasing a distinct evolution in how certain actors are leveraging LLMs for influence operation campaigns,” said Anthropic.

Furthermore, the company found cases of credential stuffing operations, recruitment fraud campaigns, and a novice actor using AI to enhance their technical capabilities for malware generation beyond their skill level, among other activities.

As such, Claude was used to create and deploy an influence-as-a-service operation that automated operations and engaged with tens of thousands of authentic social media accounts across multiple countries and languages. It also enabled a bad actor to enhance systems for identifying and processing exposed usernames and passwords associated with security cameras, enhance the content of scams targeting job seekers, and more.

Overall, Anthropic learned that generative artificial intelligence (GenAI) tools can transform amateur tricksters into highly skilled cyber criminals.

Ahead of this, a malware known as FatBoyPanel is wreaking havoc in India, posing a threat to over 25 million devices and has been detected on around 900 different apps. The malware is a mobile-first banking trojan that stealthily gets users to download it by using social engineering tactics. After being installed, it steals sensitive data, including one-time passwords (OTPs), to carry out unauthorized transactions.

North Korean bad actors are deploying malware through fake hiring processes by targeting job seekers.

AgeoStealer is a malware strain that uses social engineering to exploit gamers and gain access to various credentials.

ClipBanker targets cryptocurrency users. It replaces copied wallet addresses in their clipboards with fake ones controlled by cyber criminals. This malware has featured on platforms such as SourceForge by pretending to be Microsoft Office add-ins.  

The Ugly Side Of Malware

Sure, getting hit by malware is a bad place to be, but a worse place to be is when the malware is installed by a trusted source.

In the case of Oklahoma City St. Anthony Hospital, the trustworthy person was Jeffrey Bowie, the CEO of the cybersecurity firm Veritaco. #irony

The CEO is accused of intentionally infecting employee computers at the hospital on August 6, 2024, and is facing two counts of violating Oklahoma’s Computer Crimes Act. The CEO was finally arrested on April 14, 2025, after an arrest warrant was issued.

Security cameras caught Bowie walking around the hospital, attempting to get into several offices, until he finally found two computers—one of which was for employees only.

“When confronted by hospital staff, Bowie claimed he had a family member undergoing surgery and needed to use the computer,” reads the report. “A forensic review by the hospital later uncovered the malware; however, officials stated that no patient data was accessed.”

What do you think about the good, bad, and ugly developments in the world of malware? 

Let us know in the comments below!