Arstechnica: A Trojan that’s currently doing the rounds in Japan is using Windows itself to try to defeat security software on infected machines.
Trend Micro reports that the BKDR_VAWTRAK malware, which steals credentials used for online banking at some Japanese banks, is using a Windows feature called Software Restriction Policies (SRP) to prevent infected systems from running a wide range of security programs, including anti-virus software from Microsoft, Symantec, and Intel. A total of 53 different programs are blocked by the malware.