{"id":4159,"date":"2025-03-19T18:29:33","date_gmt":"2025-03-20T02:29:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.antivirusaz.com\/faq\/?post_type=ht_kb&#038;p=4159"},"modified":"2025-04-03T17:44:34","modified_gmt":"2025-04-04T01:44:34","slug":"what-are-exploit-kits-such-as-angler-and-nuclear","status":"publish","type":"ht_kb","link":"https:\/\/www.antivirusaz.com\/faq\/art\/what-are-exploit-kits-such-as-angler-and-nuclear\/","title":{"rendered":"What are exploit kits, such as Angler and Nuclear?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Exploit kits<\/strong> are malicious toolkits used by cybercriminals to automatically scan for and exploit security vulnerabilities in software, typically web browsers, plugins, or applications. Once a vulnerability is found, the kit delivers malware without the user\u2019s knowledge or interaction.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Angler<\/strong> and <strong>Nuclear<\/strong> were two of the most notorious exploit kits. They were often used to spread <a href=\"\/security-center\/ransomware.html\">ransomware<\/a>, <a href=\"\/security-center\/trojans.html\">banking trojans<\/a>, and other <a href=\"\/security-center\/malware.html\">malware<\/a>. These kits were typically deployed on compromised or malicious websites. When a user visited the site, the kit would silently probe their system for weaknesses. If successful, it would exploit the flaw and install malware.<\/p>\n<p>Both Angler and Nuclear were popular in the mid-2010s but have since been taken down or abandoned due to law enforcement actions and shifts in cybercriminal tactics. However, the concept of exploit kits remains relevant, and newer versions still pose a threat today. Keeping software up to date and using security tools can help defend against them.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Exploit kits are malicious toolkits used by cybercriminals to automatically scan for and exploit security vulnerabilities in software, typically web browsers, plugins, or applications. Once a vulnerability is found, the kit delivers malware without the user\u2019s knowledge or interaction. Angler and Nuclear were two of the most notorious exploit kits. They were often used to [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"ht-kb-category":[12],"ht-kb-tag":[489,487,488,490],"class_list":["post-4159","ht_kb","type-ht_kb","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","ht_kb_category-threats-vulnerabilities","ht_kb_tag-angler","ht_kb_tag-exploit-kit","ht_kb_tag-exploit-kits","ht_kb_tag-nuclear"],"blocksy_meta":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>What are exploit kits, such as Angler and Nuclear?<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.antivirusaz.com\/faq\/art\/what-are-exploit-kits-such-as-angler-and-nuclear\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"What are exploit kits, such as Angler and Nuclear?\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Exploit kits are malicious toolkits used by cybercriminals to automatically scan for and exploit security vulnerabilities in software, typically web browsers, plugins, or applications. Once a vulnerability is found, the kit delivers malware without the user\u2019s knowledge or interaction. Angler and Nuclear were two of the most notorious exploit kits. They were often used to [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.antivirusaz.com\/faq\/art\/what-are-exploit-kits-such-as-angler-and-nuclear\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Antivirus and Security Software FAQs &amp; Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2025-04-04T01:44:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.antivirusaz.com\/faq\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/02\/antivirusaz-faq-blog-logo.png\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1536\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"512\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/png\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"1 minute\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/art\\\/what-are-exploit-kits-such-as-angler-and-nuclear\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/art\\\/what-are-exploit-kits-such-as-angler-and-nuclear\\\/\",\"name\":\"What are exploit kits, such as Angler and Nuclear?\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/#website\"},\"datePublished\":\"2025-03-20T02:29:33+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2025-04-04T01:44:34+00:00\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/art\\\/what-are-exploit-kits-such-as-angler-and-nuclear\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/art\\\/what-are-exploit-kits-such-as-angler-and-nuclear\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/art\\\/what-are-exploit-kits-such-as-angler-and-nuclear\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"What are exploit kits, such as Angler and Nuclear?\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/\",\"name\":\"Antivirus and Security Software FAQs & Blog\",\"description\":\"Frequently asked questions about antivirus and security software, and other computer security related issues.\",\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/#organization\"},\"alternateName\":\"AntivirusAZ.com FAQs & Blog\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Organization\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/#organization\",\"name\":\"AntiVirusAZ.com\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/\",\"logo\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/02\\\/antivirusaz-faq-blog-logo.png\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/2023\\\/02\\\/antivirusaz-faq-blog-logo.png\",\"width\":1536,\"height\":512,\"caption\":\"AntiVirusAZ.com\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/www.antivirusaz.com\\\/faq\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/logo\\\/image\\\/\"}}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"What are exploit kits, such as Angler and Nuclear?","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.antivirusaz.com\/faq\/art\/what-are-exploit-kits-such-as-angler-and-nuclear\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"What are exploit kits, such as Angler and Nuclear?","og_description":"Exploit kits are malicious toolkits used by cybercriminals to automatically scan for and exploit security vulnerabilities in software, typically web browsers, plugins, or applications. 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