Using packagers and encrypters

In the previous section, we saw how to make use of various encoders in order to make our payload undetectable from antivirus programs. However, even after using different encoders and iterations, our payload was still detected by a few antivirus programs. In order to make our payload completely stealthy, we can make use of the encrypted self-extracting archive feature offered by a compression utility called 7-Zip.

To begin, we'll first upload a malicious PDF file (containing a payload) to the site http://www.virustotal.com, as in the following screenshot. The analysis shows that our PDF file was detected by 32 antivirus programs out of the 56 available, as in the following screenshot:

Figure 8.9 – Scanning a payload using 'virustotal'

Now, using the 7-Zip utility, as in the following screenshot, we convert our malicious PDF file into a self-extracting archive:

Figure 8.10...