MBR:SST

Posted: September 14, 2012

Threat Metric

The Threat Meter is a malware assessment that SpywareRemove.com's research team is able to give every identifiable malware threat. Our Threat Meter includes several criteria based off of specific malware threats to value their severity, reach and volume. The Threat Meter is able to give you a numerical breakdown of each threat's initial Threat Level, Detection Count, Volume Count, Trend Path and Percentage Impact. The overall ranking of each threat in the Threat Meter is a basic breakdown of how all threats are ranked within our own extensive malware database. The scoring for each specific malware threat can be easily compared to other emerging threats to draw a contrast in its particular severity. The Threat Meter is a useful tool in the endeavor of seeking a solution to remove a threat or pursue additional analytical research for all types of computer users.

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:	9/10
Infected PCs:	5

First Seen:	September 14, 2012
Last Seen:	May 16, 2019
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

MBR:SST is a family of rootkits that are often associated with the presence of other PC threats, including rogue antivirus programs. Although MBR:SST isn't necessarily guaranteed to cause any symptoms, SpywareRemove.com malware researchers have noted that attacks linked to MBR:SST tend to result in overall slowdowns for your PC, in addition to any symptoms caused by related malware. Removing MBR:SST requires that you disable both MBR:SST and any other malware on your hard drive, since PC threats installed with MBR:SST have been found to block anti-malware programs that could delete MBR:SST safely. Like any rootkit, MBR:SST should be treated as a significant security hazard and should be removed ASAP.

MBR:SST: a Problem with More Variety Than You'd Like

The MBR:SST family of rootkits includes numerous variants, with recently-observed MBR:SST-based attacks as of August-September 2012 including MBR:SST.a, MBR:SST.b and MBR:SST.c. Many of these MBR:SST attacks have utilized wide ranges of other PC threats that are installed and set to launch automatically. The most common features of a MBR:SST infection are system slowdowns caused by excessive resource usage and code injection attacks that allow malicious programs to run from unrelated memory processes. PC threats that SpywareRemove.com malware research team has found to be frequently-linked to MBR:SST assaults include:

Adware programs that display pop-ups or audio-based advertisements.
Scamware programs that pretend to be security products. As their SOP, these rogue security programs will display inaccurate warning messages and system scans about infections on your computer while requesting money in a software registration process – which, obviously, shouldn't be given over to them.
Browser redirects to unusual websites.
Attacks that block genuine anti-malware products or cause your PC to freeze once you attempt to use them.

A Guaranteed Cessation to MBR:SST's Curse of Computer Dysfunction

MBR:SST and related PC threats infect normal system components (in MBR:SST's case, the Master Boot Record) to launch themselves without your permission and SpywareRemove.com malware experts advise against trying to delete the 'host' files of such infections, since it will harm essential files for your computer. However, the majority of anti-malware companies have managed to create definitions to detect MBR:SST. Appropriate anti-malware software used in Safe Mode or, if required, from a USB system boot, should be able to remove MBR:SST without being blocked by related PC threats.

Some of MBR:SST's variants have been found to include propagation functions that exploit USB drives. SpywareRemove.com malware analysts suggest avoiding any sharing of removable hard drive-based devices until you can verify that the device and associated computer both are clean. Files related to MBR:SST are unlikely to be visible, since most of MBR:SST's variants have been known to exploit Hidden attribute-based vulnerabilities to conceal some of their components.

MBR:SST

Threat Metric

MBR:SST: a Problem with More Variety Than You'd Like

A Guaranteed Cessation to MBR:SST's Curse of Computer Dysfunction

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