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Cissi virus

Posted: June 18, 2012

Threat Metric

Ranking: 3,887
Threat Level: 2/10
Infected PCs: 14,097
First Seen: June 18, 2012
Last Seen: October 17, 2023
OS(es) Affected: Windows

Contrary to its nickname, the Cissi virus actually is a worm that distributes itself via e-mail spam and includes a backdoor Trojan component. Cissi virus infections are sometimes noticeable by the presence of a Cissi.exe-named memory process and often infect NetBIOS-connected PCs by brute-force hacking weak account passwords. Among its default attacks, Cissi virus will harvest e-mail addresses for future attacks and create a backdoor vulnerability that allows criminals to have a dangerous level of access to your PC. SpywareRemove.com malware experts encourage you to remove a Cissi virus the same way that you'd do with any backdoor Trojan: by engaging trustworthy anti-malware scanners that are using recent threat databases to account for new variants of Cissi virus.

Watching Out for the Cissi Virus Rifling Through Your Address Book

First and foremost, the Cissi virus is designed to propagate itself by exploiting any available e-mail addresses on PCs that Cissi virus infects. Cissi virus (AKA Win32/Cissi) searches for files that contain strings such as .com, .net and .org and saves any e-mail addresses from these files to a separate file on your PC. Some bugged variants of the Cissi virus, such as Worm:Win32/Cissi.A, are unable to distribute themselves after acquiring this information, although other variants of the Cissi virus will proceed to send e-mail spam with Cissi virus file attachments to the targeted addresses. Scanning file attachments from unusual e-mail messages, as well as avoiding suspicious e-mail links, are SpywareRemove.com malware experts top recommendations for protecting yourself from a Cissi virus attack.

As a secondary means of distribution, Cissi virus also attempts to crack accessible NETBios accounts by using common passwords such as '1234' and 'admin.' Having strong passwords for all computer accounts is highly recommended by SpywareRemove.com malware analysts both to protect your PC from unauthorized access in general and to thwart the Cissi virus in particular. At the time of this writing, the Cissi virus is restricted to attacking Windows-based PCs. However, many versions of Windows are vulnerable to the Cissi virus, including Windows 95, 98, Me and other members of the Windows NT family.

Reasons to Slam Shut the Window That Cissi Viruses Open

Cissi viruses also include backdoor functions that can download other malicious files onto your PC, with these files typically being named misleadingly; one such file name that SpywareRemove.com malware researchers have observed is 'WinLib.exe.' A Cissi virus's attacks may also extend to collecting information from your computer, particularly information about applications and windows that are being used at the time of the Cissi virus's data collection. As is almost always the case with backdoor Trojans, such attacks can cause serious harm to your PC or related assets if left unchecked.

SpywareRemove.com malware researchers suggest that you scan your PC as soon as you suspect any potential for a Cissi virus infection, since Cissi virus may also be accompanied by other PC threats. Although Cissi virus is a relatively old PC threat and shouldn't require updates to identify, keeping your anti-malware software updated is still encouraged as a generally-helpful tactic against all variants of backdoor Trojans and worms, including the Cissi virus.

Technical Details

Additional Information

The following URL's were detected:
jollycrowds.com
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