Cassiopesa Search Browser

Posted: May 15, 2015

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:	8,521
Threat Level:	5/10
Infected PCs:	24,562

First Seen:	May 14, 2015
Last Seen:	October 15, 2023
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

Cassiopesa Search is a search engine site that derives revenue from displaying advertisements to its Web traffic. However, in spite of these seemingly normal services, Cassiopesa Search also has come under attention from being a beneficiary of a recent campaign of browser hijackers. These PC threats may modify your browser to redirect you to Cassiopesa Search non-consensually. Such functions may be symptoms of the presence of a hostile program, for which malware analysts always advise using specialized security software to uninstall.

Cassiopesa Search: The Fastest Search You Never Wanted

Cassiopesa Search is a search site based off of the same template as Google, but, unlike Google, doesn't provide any independent search results. While 'borrowing' results from other search sites, Cassiopesa Search also may deliver affiliated links for its advertising content. A minority of PC security institutions, including the Clean MX database, also claim to have detected potentially threatening content associated with Cassiopesa Search. However, malware researchers have yet to confirm these reports and can't verify Cassiopesa.com as being a threatening domain.

Perhaps most importantly, Cassiopesa Search also has come to the attention of various PC security companies due to the recent rise in browser hijackers forcibly promoting the site. These Cassiopesa Search hijackers are unassociated with any known toolbar or other, legitimate browser extension. Symptoms of these browser hijackers may include having your default browser's homepage and search engine settings locked to Cassiopesa Search, with Internet Explorer being the most commonly affected browser.

How to Rescue Your Browser from a Cassiopesa Search Hijacking

Cassiopesa Search's registration date begins in the year 2014, but its suspicious business history causes malware experts to discourage any unprotected contact with the site or its affiliates. Protecting your browser from Cassiopesa Search content should include making full use of built-in security settings as well as maintaining script blockers, advertisement blockers and other security software applicable to your browser.

Browsers redirecting to Cassiopesa Search automatically may be being compromised by threatening software or, at a minimum, a Potentially Unwanted Program (PUP). In either case, you should scan your PC with appropriate anti-malware and anti-adware products, ideally in a protected environment, such as Safe Mode. Malware experts still are acquiring information on the expected installation methods for all Cassiopesa Search hijackers. However, most similar threats use bundle-based installers with other products. Accordingly, monitoring your personal downloading behavior is the simplest, and foremost protection against Cassiopesa Search hijackings that doesn't involve any security applications.

Malware experts did confirm Cassiopesa Search hijackers having compatibility with different versions of Windows, including recent versions, such as Windows 7. Non-Windows operating systems are awaiting confirmation, although they structurally are just as open to being compromised by similar, under-the-hood changes to their Web-browsing settings.

Technical Details

Registry Modifications

The following newly produced Registry Values are:

File name without pathCassiopesa.icoCassiopesa.lnkcassiopesa_browser_eula_628.mhthttp_www.cassiopesa.com_0.localstoragehttp_www.cassiopessa.com_0.localstoragehttp_www.cassiopessa.com_0.localstorage-journalTny_Cassiopesa.icowww.cassiopessa[1].xmlRegexp file mask%WINDIR%\System32\Tasks\[RANDOM CHARACTERS]cassiopesa[RANDOM CHARACTERS]%WINDIR%\System32\Tasks\Tny_cassiopesa%WINDIR%\Tasks\[RANDOM CHARACTERS]cassiopesa[RANDOM CHARACTERS].job%WINDIR%\Tasks\Tny_cassiopesa.jobHKEY..\..\..\..{RegistryKeys}SOFTWARE\Classes\AppID\{ef494946-9425-4a5c-b373-74ccd38e8c48}Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\DOMStorage\cassiopesa.comSoftware\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\DOMStorage\cassiopessa.comSoftware\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\DOMStorage\www.cassiopesa.comSoftware\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\DOMStorage\www.cassiopessa.comSOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\LowRegistry\DOMStorage\cassiopessa.comSOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\LowRegistry\DOMStorage\www.cassiopessa.comSOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\SearchScopes\{9143e921-7c9a-4d27-ac43-eaccc78cc55a}SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Schedule\TaskCache\Tree\Tny_cassiopesaSoftware\tny_cassiopesaSOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Classes\AppID\{ef494946-9425-4a5c-b373-74ccd38e8c48}HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\[APPLICATION]\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall..{Uninstaller}Tny_Cassiopesa

Additional Information

The following directories were created:

%APPDATA%\Tny_cassiopesa%PROGRAMFILES%\Cassiopesa%PROGRAMFILES%\Tny_Cassiopesa%PROGRAMFILES(x86)%\Cassiopesa%PROGRAMFILES(x86)%\Tny_Cassiopesa

The following URL's were detected:

http://cassiopesa.com/http://cassiopesa.com/eula/http://cassiopessa.com/http://www.cassiopesa.com/results.php?q=