Medfos

Posted: January 30, 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.

Threat Level:	9/10
Infected PCs:	35

First Seen:	January 30, 2013
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

Medfos is a family of Trojans with both browser-hijacking and malware-downloading functions, most recently distributed by malicious sites claiming to offer software updates for programs like Adobe's Flash and the Google's Chrome browser. Unusual browser behavior – and, in particular, redirects to unfamiliar sites – are the top symptoms of Medfos infections. However, SpywareRemove.com malware experts stress that Medfos also may conduct activities that don't display symptoms, such as installing spyware or other forms of harmful software. Because Medfos's most recent distribution systems use an intricate chain of cooperative PC threats, you should use anti-malware programs to eradicate, not just Medfos, but also any other malware that may be related to a Medfos attack.

When Your Searches Take You to Strange Places with Medfos's Help

Medfos Trojans, like many Trojans before them, benefit from being distributed by other forms of malware that include their own arsenals. The latest of these attacks are noted to use e-mail spam-distributed Trojan downloaders that install a variant of Zeus spyware. Simultaneously, they also promote malicious websites that use browser exploits and social engineering to install multiple types of PC threats.

One of the PC threats installed by these sites happens to be Medfos, with the installation process concealed as a fake software update. If you make sure to download software updates only from trustworthy sources and have adequate browser security, your PC shouldn't be vulnerable to these means of Medfos infection.

However, for computers that are compromised successfully, Medfos will use a second component, Trojan:Win32/Medfos.B, to launch a series of search engine redirects. These redirect attacks will alter your browser's search results and force it to display links to advertising content and/or malicious sites. They also may block other websites (particularly sites that have associations with maintaining PC security).

Getting the Medfos Problem Out of Your Mailbox and Your Searches Alike

Deleting suspicious e-mails that carry Trojans that assist with Medfos's distribution, along with avoiding untrustworthy download sources, should be thought of as the easiest defenses against a Medfos infection vector. If your computer has been infected by Medfos, you should be aware that Medfos can install other malware and will attempt to resist its removal by several methods – including concealing its files in such arbitrary places as the Windows Temp folder.

As a result of the risks that are associated with Medfos, SpywareRemove.com malware experts don't recommend removing Medfos with anything less than suitable anti-malware products that may also detect other Medfos-related issues. Doing so ASAP will help to diminish any mischief that may be caused by your PC's exposure to web content from Medfos's search hijacks.

Unusually, Medfos has been found to have components that specialize in attacking Firefox and Chrome, but not Internet Explorer. Nonetheless, even if you only use the latter, you shouldn't consider your computer to be immune to Medfos-related attacks by default.

Medfos

Threat Metric

When Your Searches Take You to Strange Places with Medfos's Help

Getting the Medfos Problem Out of Your Mailbox and Your Searches Alike

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