Chameleon Malware
Posted: March 20, 2013
Threat Metric
The following fields listed on the Threat Meter containing a specific value, are explained in detail below:
Threat Level: The threat level scale goes from 1 to 10 where 10 is the highest level of severity and 1 is the lowest level of severity. Each specific level is relative to the threat's consistent assessed behaviors collected from SpyHunter's risk assessment model.
Detection Count: The collective number of confirmed and suspected cases of a particular malware threat. The detection count is calculated from infected PCs retrieved from diagnostic and scan log reports generated by SpyHunter.
Volume Count: Similar to the detection count, the Volume Count is specifically based on the number of confirmed and suspected threats infecting systems on a daily basis. High volume counts usually represent a popular threat but may or may not have infected a large number of systems. High detection count threats could lay dormant and have a low volume count. Criteria for Volume Count is relative to a daily detection count.
Trend Path: The Trend Path, utilizing an up arrow, down arrow or equal symbol, represents the level of recent movement of a particular threat. Up arrows represent an increase, down arrows represent a decline and the equal symbol represent no change to a threat's recent movement.
% Impact (Last 7 Days): This demonstrates a 7-day period change in the frequency of a malware threat infecting PCs. The percentage impact correlates directly to the current Trend Path to determine a rise or decline in the percentage.
| Threat Level: | 2/10 |
|---|---|
| Infected PCs: | 1 |
| First Seen: | March 20, 2013 |
|---|---|
| OS(es) Affected: | Windows |
Chameleon malware is a botnet-based Trojan that creates fraudulent 'clicks' on online advertisements as a money-generating scam. Based on current analyses, SpywareRemove.com malware researchers estimate that Chameleon malware doesn't throttle its fake clicks to hide itself from the PC user; as a result of these excessive numbers of fake advertisement clicks, your PC may suffer from poor speed or stability. Chameleon malware has been known to crash and restart itself frequently and is unlikely to be designed with the sophistication that more extensive botnets than itself are known to harbor. However, Chameleon malware still is a danger to your computer, and anti-malware applications should be used to remove Chameleon malware whenever you have any cause to think that this system-stuttering Trojan has scurried its way onto your hard drive.
Chameleon Malware: a Reptile that Sees Ways to Make Your Computer Wrangle Imaginary Traffic
PC security experts over at Spider.io first detected Chameleon malware early in February of this year, but Chameleon malware's botnet already consists of over a hundred thousand PCs, and it's very likely that Chameleon malware is related to previously-identified PC threats. The majority of Chameleon malware-based infections have been observed to be in the United States, although SpywareRemove.com malware researchers consider other first-world countries also to be at significant risk of contracting Chameleon malware infections of their own. California and Texas, in particular, are host to large numbers of Chameleon malware-infected computers. However, malware researchers are, so far, unable to identify Chameleon malware's preferred infections methods.
Chameleon malware is an invisible alternative to adware – while, similar to adware, Chameleon malware tries to make money from advertisements, Chameleon malware doesn't display these advertisements to its victims. Instead of forcing you to wade through advertisements, Chameleon malware generates artificial traffic that targets its favored pay-per-click advertising rings, with an estimated payout of six million monthly. The intense resource usage that Chameleon malware causes by generating fake advertisement traffic can cause your computer to be unable, forcing programs to crash, perform slowly or respond to the user interface with noticeable inaccuracy.
Fishing Your PC Out of Chameleon Malware's Stream of Illegal Money
Bots linked to the Chameleon malware's botnet are capable of using a reasonable degree of sophistication in their attacks, allowing them to fool the corresponding advertising companies. However, Chameleon malware's presence usually is relatively obvious for any observant PC user, and Chameleon malware hasn't been found to engage in many other attacks that would disable any important security functions.
Despite its recent detection, Chameleon malware most likely has been active since at least 2012 and has a significant chance of being even older than that. SpywareRemove.com malware experts recommend using anti-malware products to delete Chameleon malware whenever your PC shows symptoms of a Chameleon malware-related infection. Even so, preventative security tactics, such as avoiding suspicious sites, links or file downloads, always should be considered better than figuring out how to get rid of Chameleon malware after the Chameleon malware is turned your PC into its personal advertisement-clicking farm.
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