Trojan.FakeAV.rfz

Posted: August 29, 2013

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:	16

First Seen:	August 29, 2013
Last Seen:	March 7, 2020
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

Trojan.FakeAV.rfz is a Trojan associated with rogue anti-virus programs that display fake threat alerts as part of a scam to make you buy a registration key for their non-functional AV software. Although SpywareRemove.com malware researchers have not yet positively identified the fake AV brands that are associated with Trojan.FakeAV.rfz, Trojan.FakeAV.rfz has strong similarities to both the WinWebSec and FakeSysdef families of scamware and should be treated as an equivalent security threat. You should use any methods needed to access anti-malware applications that can delete Trojan.FakeAV.rfz and any fake anti-virus programs affiliated with Trojan.FakeAV.rfz, since your computer will remain at risk for various attacks until it's been disinfected in full.

Why Everything that Calls Itself Anti-Virus isn't Necessarily 'Anti' What You Think

Trojan.FakeAV.rfz is one of the newest Trojans to be associated with major families of fake anti-virus products that have been in distribution for quite a few years, by this point. Examples of some of Trojan.FakeAV.rfz's aliases include Trojan.Fakealert.37412, Trojan-FakeAV.Win32.FakeSysDef.zxv, Kryptik.CCEM, TSPY_FAREIT.SM04 and Rogue:Win32/Winwebsec. Current evidence leads SpywareRemove.com malware experts to suspect that the bulk of Trojan.FakeAV.rfz's functions are devoted to enabling fake anti-virus software-related attacks, such as:

Displaying fake pop-up alerts that pretend to detect other threats on your PC.
Displaying system scans with fraudulent results. In some cases, these scans may point to legitimate files or towards 'dummy' files that Trojan.FakeAV.rfz has created intentionally.
Browser hijacks that redirect you away from security sites, display fake warning messages and/or promote Trojan.FakeAV.rfz's brand of scamware.

Depending on the variant of Trojan.FakeAV.rfz that's installed, SpywareRemove.com malware researchers warn that your PC also may suffer from downgraded security due to tampering with the system Registry and various other security-related system components. In most cases, Trojan.FakeAV.rfz will try to disable some specific Windows security tools like the firewall, and Trojan.FakeAV.rfz may even block most programs in general.

How a Real Anti-Virus Solution Can Stop an Imitation of the Genuine Article

All variants of Trojan.FakeAV.rfz Trojans put in risk your PC regardless of what brand of rogue anti-virus software they espouse, and SpywareRemove.com malware researchers recommend getting rid of Trojan.FakeAV.rfz as quickly as possible once Trojan.FakeAV.rfz is detected. Although Trojan.FakeAV.rfz is likely to try to block security programs that will be useful for removing Trojan.FakeAV.rfz, booting into Safe Mode or, at worst, booting from a peripheral hard drive will let you disable Trojan.FakeAV.rfz and any program-blocking problems caused by Trojan.FakeAV.rfz. Anti-malware products then should be able to delete Trojan.FakeAV.rfz with little effort, and SpywareRemove.com malware experts have confirmed that most such products should be able to detect Trojan.FakeAV.rfz (albeit not necessarily with perfect accuracy).

Prior to removing Trojan.FakeAV.rfz, you should be especially cautious about identifying fake AV alerts and similar issues related to Trojan.FakeAV.rfz. Real anti-virus alerts may be corroborated by reputable brands of anti-malware software, and they never will redirect you away from safe programs or websites.

Trojan.FakeAV.rfz

Threat Metric

Why Everything that Calls Itself Anti-Virus isn't Necessarily 'Anti' What You Think

How a Real Anti-Virus Solution Can Stop an Imitation of the Genuine Article

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