Remote Administration Tools: A Comparative Study

One of the trends it has been observing for some time now is the blurring of divisional lines between different types of malware. Classifying a newly discovered 'creature' as a virus, a worm, a Trojan or a security exploit becomes more difficult and anti-virus researchers spend a significant amount of their time discussing the proper classification of new viruses and Trojans. Depending on the point of view, very often, the same program may be perceived as a Remote Administration Tool (RAT) allowing a potentially malicious user to remotely control the system. A Remote Administration Tool is remote control software that when installed on a computer it allows a remote computer to take control of it.