OverwriteMBR

Posted: December 28, 2016

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:	8/10
Infected PCs:	7

First Seen:	December 28, 2016
Last Seen:	February 25, 2020
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

OverwriteMBR is a fake gaming cheat application that hijacks the infected PC's startup process and prevents Windows from loading. Accordingly, its distribution ties into game cheating forums and Web resources. PC users can apply the strategies from this article for repairing their startup configuration or, preferentially, use anti-malware programs for deleting OverwriteMBR right away.

The New Cost of a Cheat Code is Your Whole Computer

The Master Boot Record or MBR is a favorite staging ground for semi-advanced Trojans to hijack the startup process, usually, to guarantee their loading even before that of the operating system. A successful hijacking can launch the associated threatening software without any symptoms, but, for con artists with interest in doing so, also can bring the startup process to a complete halt. OverwriteMBR is a case of malware analysts seeing a threat performing the latter, not for mercenary or extortionist purposes, but to attack a particular demographic of cheaters for online games.

OverwriteMBR's installation strategy uses a Trojan downloader that its threat actors are seeding on domains associated with MultiPlayer Game Hacking & Cheats (also known as MPGH) apparently. The installation tool disguises itself as 'ExternalCounterstrike,' a cheating utility for CounterStrike: Global Offensive. When running, it downloads the OverwriteMBR's executable, which then creates a custom MBR routine for the infected PC.

Although this feature could be responsible for launching a heady range of threats or creating other security problems, OverwriteMBR loads only a text message. The paragraph blames the 'incompetent file analyzers at MPGH' and recommends using alternatives for your cheating purposes. The MBR ceases to load at this point, meaning that Windows never will finish the boot-up process.

Rewriting a Rewritten Master Boot Record

OverwriteMBR doesn't try to sell a fix or repair service for its attack or conduct other attacks besides the one noted earlier in this article. Although a disabled Internet connection can stop the loader from downloading OverwriteMBR, victims acquiring the original file from its current locations are unlikely of lacking network connectivity in the first place.

OverwriteMBR's MBR-hijacking effectively 'bricks' the PC, although malware experts do deem recovery possible. Storage devices such as DVDs and USB drives can let you boot the machine while bypassing the MBR. Windows also has a default recovery feature that may reverse the damage, in addition to other options, such as bootrec.exe, that you can access directly via the Command Prompt. A complete reinstall of Windows also can correct the issue.

Conventional anti-malware protection can block threats trying to install threatening software automatically and should delete OverwriteMBR without letting it overwrite the boot record. Regardless of how well you protect your computer, however, OverwriteMBR is an incredibly clear example that downloading underground software comes with an inherent risk of getting more than you wanted.

OverwriteMBR

Threat Metric

The New Cost of a Cheat Code is Your Whole Computer

Rewriting a Rewritten Master Boot Record

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