Among Rustock’s distinguishing characteristics are its heavy reliance on advanced rootkit technologies to hide from security software and its changeling-like ability to morph itself each time it infects a file. That threat, dubbed “Rustock” by Symantec, is a family of backdoor Trojan horses that first appeared nearly a year ago, says Patrick Martin, a senior product manager with the Cupertino, Calif., company’s security response team. The tactics used by a sophisticated threat of 2006 will become staples in exploits during the year to come, a security researcher. “The techniques that [Rustock] is using will be the baseline for threats in the future,” Martin says. “It’s using techniques that most rootkit detectors aren’t looking at or for yet,” says Martin. The longer a Trojan can remain undetected the longer it can stay on a PC, and the more income it can generate for its owner.