What Is Emotet Malware?
Emotet is a form of malware that was originally developed as a banking trojan to steal financial information, such as banking credentials and personal data. Over time, it evolved into a modular malware platform capable of delivering other malicious payloads, including ransomware and information stealers.
Today, Emotet is primarily used for phishing campaigns and social engineering attacks, serving as an initial access vector for threat actors to compromise networks and distribute additional malware.
Its modular design allows attackers to update its capabilities dynamically, turning compromised machines into parts of a larger botnet infrastructure used for further attacks. Infection by Emotet often results in significant disruptions. Unlike traditional viruses, Emotet focuses on spreading laterally within networks, exfiltrating data, and providing a foothold for additional malware.
Emotet's adaptability makes it a persistent threat for organizations and individuals, as it continuously changes tactics to evade detection and leverage new vulnerabilities discovered in targeted systems.
This is part of a series of articles about bot protection.
In this article:
History and Evolution of Emotet
Emotet was first identified in 2014 as a simple banking Trojan targeting financial data through malicious Microsoft Word documents. In its early iterations, it was mainly used to intercept banking transactions and harvest login credentials. By 2016, Emotet became a delivery mechanism for other malware, including TrickBot and Ryuk ransomware.
Between 2017 and 2020, Emotet emerged as a prolific malware platform, supported by threat actors who used it for large-scale spam campaigns and malware distribution. In January 2021, a coordinated law enforcement operation led by Europol and other international agencies temporarily disrupted Emotet's operations by seizing command-and-control servers.
Emotet resurfaced in November 2021 with new evasion techniques, including the use of password-protected ZIP files and Excel 4.0 macros. In 2024, Emotet continued to evolve, refining its phishing and social engineering techniques to make malicious emails harder to detect.
Its partnerships with other malware operators enable it to act as a gateway for large-scale data theft and network compromise. Industries dependent on secure communication, like finance and legal services, remain prime targets.
Emotet operates as a loader, infiltrating systems, establishing persistence, and deploying additional malware. The infection typically begins when a user opens a malicious attachment or clicks a link in a phishing email. This initiates the download of a payload, which drops the Emotet binary onto the system.
Once executed, Emotet connects to command-and-control (C2) servers to receive instructions and modules. These modules can include data theft, email harvesting, credential dumping, and propagation tools. The malware also injects itself into running processes to evade detection and uses scheduled tasks or registry modifications to ensure persistence across reboots.
Emotet collects sensitive data such as email content, contact lists, and system information, which it exfiltrates to C2 servers. This data is then used to craft new phishing campaigns or sold to other threat actors. Emotet’s ability to deliver secondary payloads makes it especially dangerous, often resulting in the deployment of more destructive malware like ransomware.
Dhanesh Ramachandran
Dhanesh is a Product Marketing Manager at Radware, responsible for driving marketing efforts for Radware Bot Manager. He brings several years of experience and a deep understanding of market dynamics and customer needs in the cybersecurity industry. Dhanesh is skilled at translating complex cybersecurity concepts into clear, actionable insights for customers. He holds an MBA in Marketing from IIM Trichy.
Tips from the Expert:
In my experience, here are tips that can help you better defend against and respond to Emotet attacks beyond what this article covers:
1. Monitor for living-off-the-land binaries (LOLBins) abuse: Emotet often leverages tools like PowerShell, WMI, and MSHTA for fileless execution. Configure endpoint monitoring to flag unusual use of these binaries, especially when invoked by Office processes or in non-standard user contexts.
2. Deploy outbound DNS traffic filtering and analysis: Block or inspect DNS queries for domains with random subdomains or patterns resembling domain generation algorithms (DGAs). Emotet’s C2 often uses fast-flux infrastructure that can be identified this way.
3. Use SMB hardening to limit worm-like propagation: Disable SMBv1, enforce SMB signing, and apply network-level authentication to prevent Emotet from abusing lateral movement mechanisms. Consider internal firewalls to limit SMB exposure between segments.
4. Harden email clients beyond gateway filtering: Configure Office to disable macros from the internet by default, block Excel 4.0 macros, and restrict OLE object execution. Also, disable auto-loading of remote images in email clients to reduce the effectiveness of beaconing and tracking.
5. Set canary accounts and honey credentials: Deploy fake accounts or credentials in Active Directory. Monitor them for any authentication attempts, as Emotet often dumps credentials early to enumerate targets. Any use of these canaries signals compromise.
Emotet leverages multiple infection vectors, with email phishing being the primary method. Attackers craft convincing emails using stolen branding, social engineering, and legitimate-looking document formats to trick recipients into opening malicious attachments or clicking embedded links.
The malware’s ability to hijack email threads makes these phishing attempts even more effective, as it can reply to previous legitimate conversations, increasing the likelihood that recipients will respond or click malicious elements.
Once inside a network, Emotet uses exploit kits, password brute forcing, and network scanning tools to move laterally, identifying additional machines to infect. Its self-propagation capabilities help it spread rapidly within organizations, sometimes compromising entire networks within hours.
In addition, Emotet often downloads and runs third-party malicious payloads, further complicating incident response efforts and turning initial infections into multi-stage attacks involving multiple forms of malware.
Emotet infections can lead to extensive financial and operational damage. The initial compromise often results in stolen data, disrupted services, and unauthorized access to sensitive systems. However, the greater impact usually stems from the malware it delivers. Secondary infections with ransomware, data stealers, or remote access trojans can encrypt files, leak proprietary information, or allow continued unauthorized access.
Organizations often incur significant costs from an Emotet attack, including incident response, system recovery, legal liability, and regulatory penalties. Downtime caused by network-wide infections may halt operations for days or even weeks, affecting productivity and customer trust. Emotet can exfiltrate email content and contact lists, leading to reputational harm.
Emotet has been responsible for several significant cyber incidents affecting various sectors worldwide. Below are some notable cases:
- Healthcare Sector, USA (2023): Emotet campaigns delivered payloads to healthcare providers, compromising sensitive systems and prompting alerts from U.S. authorities.
- Germany (2023): Emotet infections using malicious OneNote files disrupted businesses and universities, requiring extensive system restorations.
- Japan (2022): A wave of Emotet infections targeted Japanese organizations using malicious LNK files in password-protected ZIP archives, leading to widespread network disruptions.
- Kroll Investigation, USA (2022): An Emotet infection chain involving ZIP and LNK files resulted in Cobalt Strike deployment and data theft at a U.S. company.
- Department of Justice, Quebec (2020): The provincial justice department's email systems were targeted by Emotet, compromising sensitive communications.
- Lithuanian Government (2020): Multiple government institutions in Lithuania were affected by Emotet, leading to significant operational challenges
- Democratic National Committee, USA (2020): Emotet was identified in phishing campaigns targeting the DNC, raising concerns about election security.
Here are some of the ways that organizations can better defend themselves against Emotet infections.
1. Email Security Measures
Deploy email filtering solutions to identify and quarantine suspicious messages before they reach end users. These solutions analyze attachments, links, sender authenticity, and language patterns, flagging or blocking malicious content commonly used in Emotet campaigns. Automated sandboxing of attachments can dynamically analyze behaviors without user intervention, minimizing the risk of payload delivery through phishing.
User training and simulated phishing tests are critical for improving resilience against email-based threats. Employees should be instructed to scrutinize attachments and links, especially from unexpected or external sources, and report suspicious emails to IT security teams. Well-trained users act as an additional line of defense, preventing attackers from exploiting human error to compromise the organization’s internal network.
2. Implement Least Privilege Access
Implementing least privilege access means giving users only the permissions they need for their roles, limiting exposure if an account is compromised by Emotet. Restricting administrative privileges and using separate accounts for elevated tasks reduces possibilities for lateral movement and helps contain infections. Regular audits of user privileges should identify and remediate excessive or outdated permissions.
Strong authentication controls, such as multi-factor authentication (MFA), complement least privilege by providing additional barriers against unauthorized access. When combined with network segmentation, these practices ensure that even if Emotet infiltrates a device, its ability to traverse the network and inflict broader damage is minimized.
3. Deploy Advanced WAF Solutions
Web application firewalls (WAFs) can block malicious traffic attempting to exploit vulnerabilities in web-facing services that Emotet might use during post-compromise operations. Modern WAFs with behavioral analysis can detect abnormal HTTP/S requests, such as automated attempts to download secondary payloads or exfiltrate data.
Integrating WAFs with threat intelligence feeds enables real-time blocking of known malicious IPs and domains used in Emotet campaigns. Organizations should configure WAFs to enforce strict input validation and monitor for suspicious API or file upload activity, which Emotet can abuse for lateral movement or persistence.
4. Incident Response and Recovery
An effective incident response plan outlines steps to detect, contain, and remove Emotet infections. Prepare playbooks covering early identification—such as network anomalies or unusual authentication requests—followed by rapid containment measures, like isolating affected devices and disabling compromised accounts.
Post-incident, comprehensive root cause analysis and lessons-learned reviews allow organizations to identify gaps in defenses and improve preparedness. Recovery processes must include restoring systems from known-good backups, conducting forensic analysis, and monitoring for signs of reinfection.
5. Use Threat Detection Tools
Use network monitoring and intrusion detection tools to identify Emotet-related activity, such as unusual outbound traffic or C2 server connections. Signature-based detection helps block known Emotet variants, while behavioral analytics can spot new or obfuscated payloads by flagging abnormal user or system behaviors. Continuous threat intelligence integration keeps detection tools updated with the latest indicators for emerging malware campaigns.
Deploying deception technologies and honeypots adds another layer to threat detection efforts, capturing attack attempts without risking production assets. Regularly test and tune detection rules based on evolving attack patterns, actively adjusting to the frequent updates Emotet authors make to their delivery mechanisms.
Radware offers a range of solutions to effectively detect and mitigate Emotet and other types of bot attacks:
Bot Manager
Radware Bot Manager is a multiple award-winning bot management solution designed to protect web applications, mobile apps, and APIs from the latest AI-powered automated threats. Utilizing advanced techniques such as Radware’s patented Intent-based Deep Behavior Analysis (IDBA), semi-supervised machine learning, device fingerprinting, collective bot intelligence, and user behavior modeling, it ensures precise bot detection with minimal false positives. Its AI-powered correlation engine automatically analyzes threat behavior, shares data throughout security modules and blocks bad source IPs, providing complete visibility into each attack. Bot Manager protects against threats such as ATO (account takeover), DDoS, ad and payment fraud, web scraping, and unauthorized API access. Bot Manager ensures seamless website access for legitimate users without relying on CAPTCHAs. It also provides a range of customizable mitigation options including Crypto Challenge that thwarts attacks by exponentially increasing the computing power needed by attackers. With a scalable infrastructure and a detailed dashboard, Radware Bot Manager delivers real-time insights into bot traffic, helping organizations safeguard sensitive data, maintain user trust, and prevent financial fraud.
Alteon Application Delivery Controller (ADC)
Radware’s Alteon Application Delivery Controller (ADC) offers robust, multi-faceted application delivery and security, combining advanced load balancing with integrated Web Application Firewall (WAF) capabilities. Designed to optimize and protect mission-critical applications, Alteon ADC provides comprehensive Layer 4-7 load balancing, SSL offloading, and acceleration for seamless application performance. The integrated WAF defends against a broad range of web threats, including SQL Injection, cross-site scripting, and advanced bot-driven attacks. Alteon ADC further enhances application security through bot management, API protection, and DDoS mitigation, ensuring continuous service availability and data protection. Built for both on-premises and hybrid cloud environments, it also supports containerized and microservices architectures, enabling scalable and flexible deployments that align with modern IT infrastructures.
DefensePro X
Radware's DefensePro X is an advanced DDoS protection solution that provides real-time, automated mitigation against high-volume, encrypted, and zero-day attacks. It leverages behavioral-based detection algorithms to accurately distinguish between legitimate and malicious traffic, enabling proactive defense without manual intervention. The system can autonomously detect and mitigate unknown threats within 18 seconds, ensuring rapid response to evolving cyber threats. With mitigation capacities ranging from 6 Gbps to 800 Gbps, DefensePro X is built for scalability, making it suitable for enterprises and service providers facing massive attack volumes. It protects against IoT-driven botnets, burst attacks, DNS and TLS/SSL floods, and ransom DDoS campaigns. The solution also offers seamless integration with Radware’s Cloud DDoS Protection Service, providing flexible deployment options. Featuring advanced security dashboards for enhanced visibility, DefensePro X ensures comprehensive network protection while minimizing operational overhead.
Cloud DDoS Protection Service
Radware’s Cloud DDoS Protection Service offers advanced, multi-layered defense against Distributed Denial of Service (DDoS) attacks. It uses sophisticated behavioral algorithms to detect and mitigate threats at both the network (L3/4) and application (L7) layers. This service provides comprehensive protection for infrastructure, including on-premises data centers and public or private clouds. Key features include real-time detection and mitigation of volumetric floods, DNS DDoS attacks, and sophisticated application-layer attacks like HTTP/S floods. Additionally, Radware’s solution offers flexible deployment options, such as on-demand, always-on, or hybrid models, and includes a unified management system for detailed attack analysis and mitigation.