Win32/Kheagol.Patch.A

Posted: February 27, 2012

Threat Metric

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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.

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Threat Level:	1/10
Infected PCs:	83

First Seen:	February 28, 2012
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

Win32/Kheagol.Patch.A is a Trojan that's implemented as a malicious file alteration (in most cases, for .dll files) that's installed by other Trojans from the same family. Since the Win32/Kheagol family of banking Trojans is a multi-component family that coordinates attacks between individual members to steal financial information, you should consider the presence of Win32/Kheagol.Patch.A or any other related PC threat to be a high-level breach of your computer's safety and privacy. As is the case with most types of spyware, SpywareRemove.com malware researchers have found that symptoms of a Win32/Kheagol.Patch.A infection aren't likely to be very visible, and recommend that you use solid anti-malware software to detect Win32/Kheagol.Patch.A attacks or remove Win32/Kheagol.Patch.A and its relatives.

Why a Lack of Obvious Problems Doesn't Mean a Lack of Danger from Win32/Kheagol.Patch.A

Win32/Kheagol.Patch.A is just one of many components that may be installed by related Trojan droppers from the Kheagol family, with other components including Win32/Kheagol.Patch.B, PWS:Win32/Kheagol.D, PWS:Win32/Kheagol.E and PWS:Win32/Kheagol.F. These various Trojans can be installed via patches to .dll files, API hooks and other types of advanced techniques that are both unnoticeable to casual inspection and resistant to basic removal methods. SpywareRemove.com malware experts note the importance of having good anti-malware software that can detect and remove Win32/Kheagol.Patch.A and other aspects of a Kheagol-based infection without harm to your PC or failure to detect all PC threats.

Win32/Kheagol.Patch.A and related PC threats are designed to launch, either when Windows starts, or when your web browser starts, and in either case will not be evident as visible applications. However, Win32/Kheagol.Patch.A's background presence allows Win32/Kheagol.Patch.A to monitor and steal bank-related information, such as login credentials, passwords or credit card numbers, thereafter transmitting the stolen data to a criminal-operated server. Therefore, SpywareRemove.com malware experts recommend that you change passwords and related information after you've finished removing Win32/Kheagol.Patch.A with appropriate security software.

The Upper Boundaries to a Win32/Kheagol.Patch.A Attack

Win32/Kheagol.Patch.A is implemented as a Windows-specific Trojan, and neither Win32/Kheagol.Patch.A nor related Kheagol-based Trojans should be able to function in a different brand of operating system. SpywareRemove.com malware analysts are also glad to note that PC threats in Win32/Kheagol.Patch.A's family are, at the time of this writing, limited to gathering information from Internet Explorer and Mozilla Firefox-brand browsers. Using a different brand of web browser, therefore, can help to protect your PC from Win32/Kheagol.Patch.A attacks until you can remove Win32/Kheagol.Patch.A appropriately.

Since Win32/Kheagol.Patch.A and related PC threats were solidly identified in the middle of 2011, updating your anti-malware software should only be considered mandatory in cases where your threat database is older than the above date. However, it's generally commendable to keep your software as up-to-date as possible, since Kheagol Trojans like Win32/Kheagol.Patch.A may be updated by remote servers that enhance their capabilities.

Technical Details

Additional Information

The following URL's were detected:

getradiosearch.com