The Dridex banking Trojan is a well-known piece of malware primarily targeting financial institutions and their customers to steal banking credentials and facilitate fraudulent transactions. This particular threat intelligence report highlights the return of Dridex with a new technique to bypass User Account Control (UAC) on Windows systems. UAC is a security feature designed to prevent unauthorized changes to the operating system by prompting users for elevated permissions. By leveraging a novel UAC bypass method, Dridex can escalate privileges silently without triggering user prompts, thereby increasing its chances of successful infection and persistence. Once elevated, Dridex can inject itself into system processes, intercept banking credentials, and communicate with command and control servers to exfiltrate data or receive further instructions. Although the report dates back to early 2017 and lists the severity as low, the introduction of a new UAC bypass method represents a significant technical advancement in the malware’s capability to evade detection and user intervention. The lack of known exploits in the wild at the time suggests limited immediate spread, but the threat remains relevant due to Dridex’s historical impact and continuous evolution. The Trojan’s focus on financial data aligns with its categorization under finance-related threats, and its persistence mechanisms make it a dangerous tool for cybercriminals targeting online banking users.

For European organizations, the resurgence of Dridex with enhanced UAC bypass capabilities poses a considerable risk, especially to financial institutions, online banking customers, and enterprises handling sensitive financial transactions. Successful infections can lead to credential theft, unauthorized fund transfers, and significant financial losses. Additionally, compromised endpoints may serve as footholds for further lateral movement within corporate networks, potentially exposing other sensitive data beyond banking information. The stealthy privilege escalation reduces the likelihood of detection by end users and some security solutions, increasing the chance of prolonged undetected presence. This can undermine trust in digital banking services and impose regulatory and compliance challenges under frameworks such as GDPR, where data breaches involving personal financial information must be reported and mitigated. The low severity rating in the original report likely reflects the threat landscape at the time; however, the technical sophistication of the UAC bypass suggests that organizations should not underestimate the potential impact if the malware were to be widely deployed or updated with additional capabilities.

To specifically mitigate the threat posed by Dridex leveraging a new UAC bypass method, European organizations should implement a multi-layered defense strategy. First, ensure that endpoint protection platforms are updated with the latest signatures and behavioral detection capabilities to identify and block Dridex variants and suspicious privilege escalation attempts. Employ application whitelisting to restrict execution of unauthorized binaries and scripts, particularly those attempting to exploit UAC. Harden UAC settings by configuring them to the highest level, which requires consent from administrators rather than standard users, thereby reducing silent bypass opportunities. Regularly update and patch Windows operating systems to close known privilege escalation vulnerabilities that malware might exploit. Conduct user awareness training focused on phishing and social engineering tactics commonly used to deliver Dridex payloads. Network segmentation and monitoring should be enhanced to detect unusual outbound communications indicative of command and control traffic. Finally, implement strong multi-factor authentication for banking and critical systems to limit the impact of stolen credentials.