Asgard Malware Protector Reversed: Researchers Expose Its Antivirus Bypass Methods

SpyCloud Labs analysts have successfully reverse-engineered Asgard Protector, a sophisticated crypter tool prominently used to hide malicious payloads from antivirus detection systems.

This crypter has gained particular notoriety for being the preferred choice among sellers of LummaC2, currently the most prevalent commodity infostealer in the cyberthreat landscape. The analysis reveals intricate evasion techniques that demonstrate the evolving sophistication of malware distribution methods. 

Crypters represent a critical component in modern cybercriminal operations, serving as protective shells that wrap malicious payloads in seemingly benign packages. 

Asgard Protector has established itself as a premium service in underground forums, with advertisements appearing on XSS dating back to 2023.

The service operates through an automated Telegram bot that generates crypted stubs with customizable features including IP logging capabilities, anti-virtual machine detection, and autorun functionality.

The .bat file it looks for is the ASCII text file, or in this sample, Belgium.pst.