Skodna.BitCoinMiner.AD

Posted: October 10, 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.

Ranking:	9,269
Threat Level:	9/10
Infected PCs:	19,126

First Seen:	October 10, 2012
Last Seen:	September 27, 2023
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

Skodna.BitCoinMiner.AD is a Trojan that exploits an infected computer's resources to generate fraudulent digital currency. Because allowing Skodna.BitCoinMiner.AD to remain on your PC encourages destructive financial activity, Skodna.BitCoinMiner.AD should be removed quickly and by anti-malware products that are capable of detecting obfuscated PC threats. BitCoin miner Trojans like Skodna.BitCoinMiner.AD are often associated with system instability, although Skodna.BitCoinMiner.AD may be configured to avoid such side effects, and deleting Skodna.BitCoinMiner.AD by manual methods has been reported to be extremely difficult.

Why Your Computer is the Pickaxe Skodna.BitCoinMiner.AD Uses to Dig for Wealth

Skodna.BitCoinMiner.AD is designed to avoid detection by visual means and is installed by deceptive methods. SpywareRemove.com malware researchers are inclined to point to drive-by-downloads by Blacole or spammed links from social networking programs as likely infection vectors for Skodna.BitCoinMiner.AD, given their recent popularity, although Skodna.BitCoinMiner.AD also may be installed by other means. Trojan downloaders from the Comine family often include BitCoin miners like Skodna.BitCoinMiner.AD in their payloads.

While Skodna.BitCoinMiner.AD lurks in the background, unseen, Skodna.BitCoinMiner.AD generates money in BitCoin – an online currency that provides convenient digital money to the tune of one BitCoin equating to ten USD. While generating fake BitCoins is a popular pastime for several types of Trojans, SpywareRemove.com malware experts have taken notice of Skodna.BitCoinMiner.AD as a recent PC threat, with Skodna.BitCoinMiner.AD-related attacks being seen this month of 2012.

The Challenge in Digging Skodna.BitCoinMiner.AD out of Your Computer

As far as Trojans go, Skodna.BitCoinMiner.AD is a relatively intractable specimen that resists even basic attempts at removal from established brands of anti-malware products. To delete Skodna.BitCoinMiner.AD safely, SpywareRemove.com malware analysts also recommend that you make an effort to disable Skodna.BitCoinMiner.AD and all PC threats related to Skodna.BitCoinMiner.AD by tactics as noted below:

If possible, boot your computer from a separate OS that's loaded onto a clean USB device. This device also should be scanned to be certain that malware related to Skodna.BitCoinMiner.AD Trojans are unable to infect it.
Switch Windows to Safe Mode by tapping F8 during the boot process.

These steps will disable most types of malicious software and allow you to remove Skodna.BitCoinMiner.AD with appropriate anti-malware scans. As a Trojan that may have recent updates or variants, Skodna.BitCoinMiner.AD should be deleted by anti-malware scanners that have, themselves, been given full database updates.

BitCoin-generating attacks by Skodna.BitCoinMiner.AD may cause serious instability for your PC. Programs may crash or be sluggish, user interfaces may be unresponsive, and resources like your CPU and RAM may be much lower than normal. Skodna.BitCoinMiner.AD, like some other types of BitCoin-mining Trojans, also may be used for other attacks that can harm your PC in diverse ways, such as by creating backdoor vulnerabilities or installing other malware. Naturally, removing Skodna.BitCoinMiner.AD should be done as expediently as is possible for your PC's sake.

Aliases

Skodna.BitCoinMiner.AD [AVG]W32/StartPage.OKR [Fortinet]Trojan.StartPage.42828 [DrWeb]Trojan.Dropper-31300 [ClamAV]Win32/StartPage.OKR [NOD32]Artemis!C8C675C8F142 [McAfee]

Technical Details

File System Modifications

Tutorials: If you wish to learn how to remove malware components manually, you can read the tutorials on how to find malware, kill unwanted processes, remove malicious DLLs and delete other harmful files. Always be sure to back up your PC before making any changes.

The following files were created in the system:

%SYSTEMDRIVE%\$Recycle.Bin\S-1-5-21-3541193035-3141088245-1877753966-1002\$RN6UMF7.exe

File name: $RN6UMF7.exe
Size: 1.64 MB (1640466 bytes)
MD5: c8c675c8f14293c911444f2d403f2c2d
Detection count: 1,211
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: %SYSTEMDRIVE%\$Recycle.Bin\S-1-5-21-3541193035-3141088245-1877753966-1002\$RN6UMF7.exe
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: October 2, 2023