Quote:Remember when memes were little more than satirical images overlaid with text? Not anymore. Researchers have identified a new type of malware that receives instructions via hidden code embedded in memes posted to Twitter.

According to researchers, the meme-driven malware is nothing more than a simple remote access trojan (RAT) instructed in a novel way. The first step in the attack is infecting a targeted PC with the RAT – identified as TROJAN.MSIL.BERBOMTHUM.AA. Next, the malware listens for commands from a single Twitter account (created in 2017) and controlled by the malware operator.

“The memes contain an embedded command that is parsed by the malware after it’s downloaded from the malicious Twitter account onto the victim’s machine,” wrote researchers with Trend Micro that discovered the malware and publicly disclosed its findings on Friday.

According to Trend Micro, Twitter disabled the account in question on Dec. 13, 2018. In total, only two malicious tweets were observed by researchers and they were posted to Twitter on Oct. 25 and 26.