A program or collection of software tools programmed to hide certain objects or activity in the system. As a rule, cybercriminals hide the registry keys for the autorun of malicious objects, as well as files, folders, processes in the infected computer’s memory, and malicious network activity. They can hinder the deletion of files or registry keys.
Rootkits themselves do not cause direct harm to the computer. In the overwhelming majority of cases, they are used in conjunction with other malware to prevent detection and maximize the stay time on the victim computer.