Home Malware Programs Rogue Anti-Virus Programs Defru

Defru

Posted: August 20, 2014

Threat Metric

Threat Level: 10/10
Infected PCs: 39
First Seen: August 20, 2014
OS(es) Affected: Windows


Defru is a browser hijacker that uses its Web redirects to promote the services of a premium, but fake security program known as Windows Security. PC users who bother to buy Defru's promoted software will continue to experience Web-browsing redirects to Defru's fraudulent pages, which have no purpose beyond providing revenue for its designers. The extremely visible symptoms of a suspected Defru infection always should be reacted to by using a robust anti-malware solution, which should remove Defru and, hopefully, any related changes to your Web-browser settings.

Defru: Another New Step in Fake AV Software

Although most of the major families of rogue anti-malware programs (such as WinWebSec or FakeSysdef) are on the decline, threat authors haven't abandoned these tactics wholesale. Defru is an indication of them utilizing different, browser-based attacks to achieve the same goals, rather than building entire brands of fake system scanners with semi-functional 'scans' and diverse pop-up warnings. Rather than being scamware, itself, Defru is a browser hijacker that installs itself with no visible symptoms and makes changes to the Registry and Hosts file that allow Defru to have a persistent effect on your Web browser's behavior.

Compromised Web browsers redirect from unrelated sites (especially websites related to major PC security companies) towards Defru's fake warning page, which hosts an imitation 'system scan' that pretends to find various threats on your hard drive. These results are meant to bully victims into purchasing the Defru's product, Windows Security, for slightly under five USD. Naturally, doing so doesn't provide access to a functional security program and merely wastes money and information by handing it to threat authors.

Since Defru's hijacks utilize Hosts file settings, they aren't specific to any individual browser. Malware researchers warn that Defru may affect most Windows browsers although potential compatibility with other OSes still is under investigation.

Taking the Defru Redirects out of Your Browser

While Defru is a low-level threat that has no advanced defenses, backdoor capabilities or ability to block other programs, Defru still is a threat that may endanger your PC with its browser redirects. You can combat redirects to Defru-associated pages with anti-malware utilities that can delete Defru and its file changes with no overall harm to your Web-browsing settings. The same Hosts file-based attacks also may be responsible for redirects to phishing sites or other Web-based hazards that may act against your PC in other ways.

Current evidence of Defru's campaign leads malware researchers to estimate that Defru is meant to target Russian PC users. Nonetheless, there are few restrictions that would make it difficult to retool Defru for other countries, and its means of distribution currently are unidentified. For the time being, all the standard infection vectors, including social network spam, e-mail file attachments and pirated software downloads, all should be watched for potential installers of Defru and similar PC threats.

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