Matías Porolli

Matías Porolli

Malware Researcher


Education? Information Systems Engineer from Universidad Tecnológica Nacional, Mendoza region (Argentina).

Highlights of your career? After graduating and before joining ESET, I worked on various research projects with the Fraud Investigation & Dispute Services team for Ernst & Young, dedicated to the analysis of evidence on disks and computer equipment.

Position and history at ESET? Winner of the Premio Universitario ESET contest for best security research in 2011. In May 2013 I joined the team as an Awareness & Research Specialist and in early 2014 I started working as a Malware Analyst.

What malware do you hate the most? INF/Autorun.

Favorite activities? Learning languages, basketball, football, and BMX.

What is your golden rule for cyberspace? Cogito ergo sum.

When did you get your first computer and what kind was it? Around 1996. I do not remember the model, but I do remember it runned Windows 3.11.

Favorite computer game/activity? Sega Genesis ROMs, DooM, Need for Speed Most Wanted.


15 articles by Matías Porolli

Mind the (air) gap: GoldenJackal gooses government guardrails

Mind the (air) gap: GoldenJackal gooses government guardrails

Mind the (air) gap: GoldenJackal gooses government guardrails

ESET Research analyzed two separate toolsets for breaching air-gapped systems, used by a cyberespionage threat actor known as GoldenJackal

Matías Porolli • 07 Oct 2024 • 29 min. read


These aren’t the apps you’re looking for: fake installers targeting Southeast and East Asia

These aren’t the apps you’re looking for: fake installers targeting Southeast and East Asia

These aren’t the apps you’re looking for: fake installers targeting Southeast and East Asia

ESET researchers have identified a campaign using trojanized installers to deliver the FatalRAT malware, distributed via malicious websites linked in ads that appear in Google search results

Matías Porolli and Fernando Tavella • 16 Feb 2023 • 10 min. read


POLONIUM targets Israel with Creepy malware

POLONIUM targets Israel with Creepy malware

POLONIUM targets Israel with Creepy malware

ESET researchers analyzed previously undocumented custom backdoors and cyberespionage tools deployed in Israel by the POLONIUM APT group

Matías Porolli • 11 Oct 2022 • 13 min. read


DoNot Go! Do not respawn!

DoNot Go! Do not respawn!

DoNot Go! Do not respawn!

ESET researchers take a deep look into recent attacks carried out by Donot Team throughout 2020 and 2021, targeting government and military entities in several South Asian countries

Facundo Muñoz and Matías Porolli • 18 Jan 2022 • 12 min. read


Bandidos at large: A spying campaign in Latin America

Bandidos at large: A spying campaign in Latin America

Bandidos at large: A spying campaign in Latin America

ESET Research uncovers an active malicious campaign that uses new versions of old malware, Bandook, to spy on its victims

Matías Porolli and Fernando Tavella • 07 Jul 2021 • 14 min. read


Janeleiro, the time traveler: A new old banking trojan in Brazil

Janeleiro, the time traveler: A new old banking trojan in Brazil

Janeleiro, the time traveler: A new old banking trojan in Brazil

ESET Research uncovers a new threat that targets organizations operating in various sectors in Brazil

Facundo Muñoz and Matías Porolli • 06 Apr 2021 • 16 min. read


Operation Spalax: Targeted malware attacks in Colombia

Operation Spalax: Targeted malware attacks in Colombia

Operation Spalax: Targeted malware attacks in Colombia

ESET researchers uncover attacks targeting Colombian government institutions and private companies, especially from the energy and metallurgical industries

Matías Porolli • 12 Jan 2021 • 15 min. read


More evil: A deep look at Evilnum and its toolset

More evil: A deep look at Evilnum and its toolset

More evil: A deep look at Evilnum and its toolset

ESET research gives a detailed picture of the operations of the Evilnum group and its toolkit deployed in attacks against carefully chosen targets in the fintech sector

Matías Porolli • 09 Jul 2020 • 15 min. read


Cybercrime black markets: Dark web services and their prices

Cybercrime black markets: Dark web services and their prices

Cybercrime black markets: Dark web services and their prices

A closer look at cybercrime as a service on the dark web

Matías Porolli • 31 Jan 2019 • 4 min. read