Aeternum botnet hides commands in Polygon smart contracts

Qrator Labs uncovered Aeternum, a C++ botnet loader that uses Polygon smart contracts for immutable, decentralized command-and-control; operators publish commands via blockchain transactions, infected hosts read and execute them, and the malware is sold as a ready-made product or source code, featuring anti-VM checks and builtin AV-scanning to evade detection—making takedown and disruption far more difficult and increasing potential for large-scale abuse.