RATHat Trojan Leverages Google Gemini to Infect and Control Android Devices
The banking trojan RATHat is now using Google Gemini to help infect and control Android smartphones. According to researchers from Cleafy, the large language model assists the malware in navigating unfamiliar device interfaces while also helping operators identify financially attractive victims.
Infection begins when the trojan masquerades as a legitimate application and persuades the user to enable Accessibility services. With these permissions, RATHat automatically turns on wireless debugging and connects to the device over ADB. The operator can then deploy a separate Go-based service that runs with system-level rights.
Simply uninstalling the original APK does not remove the threat. The Go service continues to operate independently, remains active until the next reboot, and can reinstall the dropped payload when needed.
Gemini reduces the amount of manual configuration required by analyzing the current screen layout and recommending the correct UI elements when standard tap sequences fail. This capability allows the malware to adapt across different Android versions, languages, and custom manufacturer skins with minimal operator intervention.
On the attacker side, the same model processes intercepted SMS messages, assesses bank account balances, and helps prioritize devices according to their potential financial value. Cleafy has tracked nearly 100 separate deployments of the command-and-control infrastructure since April, leading researchers to suspect a malware-as-a-service offering.
Related articles
Mimbrob Malware Uses Fake Dronner App to Target Russian Military and Industrial Firms
Researchers at F6 have identified a new malware campaign dubbed Mimbrob that leverages a fake drone-tracking application called Dronner. The lure promises data on heavy Baba Yaga drones and remote mining locations but instead deploys malicious payloads aimed primarily at Russian military personnel near the front line. The malware checks system language, keyboard layouts, and interface preferences, remaining dormant or terminating if Russian or certain CIS and Romanian languages are absent. Since April 2026 the same operators have conducted phishing campaigns against Russian industrial and IT companies using FBULoader disguised as a Yandex Browser update and the RAT-Go remote access trojan. The attackers register lookalike domains of legitimate Russian enterprises to deliver fake metrology notices and court documents. While espionage appears the most probable objective, researchers have not yet obtained the final payload and therefore refrain from definitive attribution.
Group-IB Discovers RemControl Android Banking Trojan Using Dynamic Overlay Attacks to Steal Banking PINs
Group-IB has identified a new Android banking trojan named RemControl with samples dating back to July 2026. The malware targets more than 30 financial institutions across Europe, the Middle East, and Canada, with Italy and France as primary focus areas. RemControl employs an overlay technique that displays a full-screen phishing replica of the legitimate banking app when the victim launches the real application, capturing PINs, access codes, and card details before seamlessly returning control to the authentic app. Phishing screens are not bundled in the APK but are fetched dynamically from operator-controlled servers reachable via Telegram channels, allowing rapid target changes without reinfection. Distribution relies on fake Google Play listing pages that mimic a streaming application, with geo-targeted delivery for Italian visitors. The trojan requests VPN permissions to block Play Store traffic and bypass real-time security checks, followed by accessibility service access that enables screen reading, keystroke logging, remote taps, and unlock pattern reconstruction.
Solar and F6 Integrate Solar webProxy with F6 Malware Detonation Platform to Filter Web Threats
GC Solar and F6 have confirmed compatibility between the Solar webProxy web access management system and the F6 Malware Detonation Platform. The integration allows Solar webProxy to pre-filter web objects and forward only suspicious files via the ICAP protocol to F6 MDP for reputation checks, static analysis, and dynamic detonation in an isolated virtual environment. Administrators can tune the level of filtering to avoid sending benign items such as fonts and icons to the sandbox, preserving resources for genuine threats. Data from the Solar webProxy team shows that archives accounted for an average of 37 percent of web threats in 2025, with malware frequently hidden inside ZIP, RAR, and 7Z containers. The solution targets medium and large organizations in finance, industry, and the public sector that handle high volumes of web traffic daily.
Engineer Tackles Jane Street ASIC Reverse Engineering Puzzle with Custom Simulator and Verilog Extraction
A detailed technical account describes how one engineer spent weeks reverse engineering an ASIC from GDS files provided in a Jane Street puzzle. The process began with parsing the GDS layout using the gdstk Python library to identify 27 cells in the warmup challenge and thousands of elements in the main task. The engineer built a custom logic simulator backed by SQLite, developed a domain-specific hardware description language, and eventually extracted a netlist that could be converted into Verilog for simulation. Key components identified included shift registers, an adder, and a comparator named comparitor496 in the warmup round. In the full challenge, nearly 10,000 instances of 81 different sky130 standard cells were processed, revealing an unexpected floating net that prompted a bug report to Jane Street. The effort combined manual schematic tracing, graph-based connectivity analysis, and waveform inspection with Surfer to confirm functional behavior.