Cidrex

Posted: February 8, 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.

Threat Level:	2/10
Infected PCs:	32

First Seen:	February 8, 2012
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

Cidrex is a family of banking Trojans reminiscent of the well-known Zeus Trojans in terms of functionality. Cidrex's spyware attacks steal personal and financial information, while dangerous, are standard for Trojans of its type, but Cidrex has gained recent interest due to its newfound ability to break through CAPTCHA-based security measures. CAPTCHA security techniques are used by e-mail sites, social networking sites and many other websites that require an account for participation. Since this security-bypassing attack can be used to increase Cidrex's propagation throughout the web and hijack your PC for spamming, SpywareRemove.com malware experts recommend that you get rid of Cidrex the very moment that you suspect that Cidrex might be on your computer. As is always true of advanced Trojans, removing Cidrex is easiest when done with assistance from anti-malware scanners and similar types of PC security software.

Cidrex – Just as Competent a Reader as Its Victims

Old variants of Cidrex may have limited themselves to traditional spying attacks, but as of early 2012, new Cidrex variants have appeared that can make life unpleasant for its victims in other ways. SpywareRemove.com malware analysts have found that these new forms of Cidrex have been upgraded with the following features, which may exhibit few symptoms besides degrading the performance of your PC:

By using a combination of stolen e-mail account information and CAPTCHA-bypassing techniques, Cidrex may break into your e-mail account. Once hijacked, your account can be used to sign up for unwanted services or used for other types of self-destructive attacks against you or contacts that are listed in your address book. CAPTCHA security is noted as a form of image recognition that's used to prevent unlawful entry by bots and Trojans like Cidrex and is widely used by many websites that require user accounts.
Conveniently, Cidrex also has a spam-enabling function that allows Cidrex to use hijacked e-mail accounts to distribute itself or other PC threats in malicious e-mail messages. Most types of Trojans like Cidrex that utilize spam attacks will also use techniques to conceal their mass-mailed e-mail; therefore, you will not be capable to detect this activity except due to side effects, such as sluggish OS performance.

Sequestering Your Cash Away from a Cidrex Intrusion

New Cidrex variants are propagated by mass-mailed e-mail messages that usually contain abbreviated or otherwise obscured links that use Blackhole Exploit Kits to install Cidrex. As long as you delete such spam whenever you see it and avoid interaction with suspicious links or file attachments, SpywareRemove.com malware experts note that the chance of Cidrex ever infecting your PC is low. However, if Cidrex does manage to infect your PC, you should consider all sensitive information that's stored on it, particularly banking and financial info, to be at risk of being stolen and sent to Cidrex's criminal partners.

Even older versions of Cidrex are capable of more attacks than that, however. Like Zeus Trojan, Cidrex is noted for its ability to create backdoors to allow hackers to control your PC, the ability to download and install additional types of malicious software and the ability to alter its behavior based on instructions from remote servers. All of these functions, while common for Trojans, are also very dangerous for your PC, and SpywareRemove.com malware analysts recommend that you use a good anti-malware program to relieve yourself of Cidrex whenever you suspect that Cidrex managed to infect your computer.

Cidrex

Threat Metric

Cidrex – Just as Competent a Reader as Its Victims

Sequestering Your Cash Away from a Cidrex Intrusion

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