Darkleech

Posted: April 3, 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.

Ranking:	5,720
Threat Level:	2/10
Infected PCs:	8,336

First Seen:	April 3, 2013
Last Seen:	October 16, 2023
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

As if there weren't enough vehicles for malware delivery in the world, Darkleech is a new exploit kit named drive-by-download. Darkleech attacks have undertaken a noticeable surge since early 2013 and are particularly worthy of news headlines for specializing in compromising benign websites that use Apache servers – the most popular server software on the web. Attacks by Darkleech don't create any visible symptoms while they install their malware onto your PC, and SpywareRemove.com malware experts have noted with significant unease that even disinfecting servers that are compromised by Darkleech is made difficult – due to Darkleech's exceptional degree of sophistication. A potent combination of anti-malware software, web browser security and website maintenance security is required to cut down on the army of Darkleech-hosting websites and remove Darkleech's malware from any compromised PCs.

Darkleech: a Lithe PC Threat that's Adjusting Its Angles of Attack on the Fly

Between Blackhole Exploit Kits, Egypack Exploit Kits, Neutrino Exploit Kits, Eleonore Exploit Kits, Sweet Orange Exploit Kits and many similar PC threats, you would think that malware authors had enough ways to infect new computers – but you'd be wrong. Darkleech, like its fellow exploit kits, abuses a range of different software vulnerabilities that allow Darkleech to install malware onto your computer automatically.

Darkleech has grabbed headlines due to its tendency to compromise websites that are using Apache server software. Although PC security experts still are scrambling to identify the vectors that are used in these attacks, SpywareRemove.com malware researchers and many others speculate that (based on this circumstantial evidence) Darkleech is abusing structural vulnerabilities that are specific to Apache. Website administrators should be particularly watchful for any potential attack that inserts Darkleech's code into their sites, and all the usual security protocols (such as keeping your website management software fully updated) should be maintained.

For visitors that unwittingly load a Darkleech-compromised site in their browser, they will not notice any signs of Darkleech's attacks even as they occur. In fact, because Darkleech uses a combination of dynamically-generated links and a series of prerequisites for determining its payloads, visiting a Darkleech-infected site is not necessarily guaranteed to result in the same attacks each time. Darkleech may choose to filter out visitors who already have been attacked, visitors who are associated with PC security industries, etc.

Keeping Darkleech from Drinking Its Fill from Your Computer

With tens of thousands of sites estimated to be compromised by Darkleech, many of which include high-traffic sites, there's absolutely no point in assuming that you're safe from Darkleech attacks even if you limit your web-browsing to familiar and apparently innocuous destinations. Staying informed on the most prominent Darkleech-compromised sites should allow you to use anti-malware software to disinfect your PC after any possible Darkleech attack. SpywareRemove.com malware experts also heartily endorse keeping all of your software in general updated, which will reduce the number of raw vulnerabilities that Darkleech can exploit.

Visitors to sites that service residents of Germany, the United Kingdom and Britain should be especially cautious about being exposed to possible Darkleech assaults. However, given the number of sites that Darkleech has infected already, as well as the likelihood of its campaign receiving additional development for the near future, Darkleech can safely be said to be a global concern, similar to the Blackhole Exploit Kit.

Technical Details

Additional Information

The following URL's were detected:

asoursuls.com