Mobile Survey

Posted: October 7, 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:	5/10
Infected PCs:	53

First Seen:	October 7, 2013
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

Mobile Survey is a pop-up advertising function associated with bSmarter – a predominantly mobile device service that claims to improve your intellect through free well-designed questionnaires and games. While threat experts haven't seen any cause for categorizing bSmarter or its advertisements as malicious, they do warn that this company has a very poor history of trustworthiness, which appears to be based on its questionable premium subscription policies. Back to Mobile Survey, these pop-ups are likely to occur on sites designed to promote the bSmarter company, and their occurrence on any sites that shouldn't be displaying them should be considered a good reason to scan your PC with anti-malware tools.

When a Mobile Survey Wants More Than Just Your Opinion

Mobile Survey just is another form of pop-up advertising, although one that has a designated content provider: bSmarter, which proudly claims that its content helps with 'learning through game experience.' There isn't any evidence of fraud or malicious content being hosted through Mobile Survey or the bSmarter site, and interactions with either of them should be treated as being reasonably safe.

Based on the history around bSmarter's business activities, it is advisable to think carefully about signing up for any premium services offered through this brand, including those promoted in Mobile Survey pop-ups. Pseudo-scams where mobile media companies 'accidentally' fail to end premium subscriptions are a common low-level threat in the mobile device industry, although avoiding them takes little more than common sense and the willingness to research a service before opting in on what it has to offer.

Lastly, as a form of pop-up advertisement, Mobile Survey also may be displayed by adware attacks. These attacks modify your PC (or, in this case, your mobile device) to display advertisements without your consent, and may be considered security hazards even when the content they display isn't hostile. The difference between a normal Mobile Survey pop-up and adware-based Mobile Survey attacks should be simple to differentiate – since normal pop-ups can be blocked by appropriate security features and browser settings.

Running Circles Around a Supposedly Mobile Survey

Mobile Survey pop-ups that appear irregularly on sites that seem to be designed to display them are not security problems, except in the sense that you may want to consider visiting different websites. The other major scenario where you may see Mobile Survey advertisements, such as in a case of an adware infection, is a meaningful security problem that SpywareRemove.com malware researchers recommend resolving with a trusted brand of anti-malware software. This rule of thumb is equally-applicable both to mobile devices and to full-fledged PCs.

Interacting with Mobile Survey shouldn't be harmful as long as you remember to stick within common-sense precautions for your Web-browsing behavior. Be careful when filling out anything that could be considered a sign-up or opt-in form for a service, always double-check for potential fees (especially recurring ones, for mobile devices) and think over whether or not you trust your personal information with bSmarter or other companies known for using pop-ups as a major marketing strategy.

Mobile Survey

Threat Metric

When a Mobile Survey Wants More Than Just Your Opinion

Running Circles Around a Supposedly Mobile Survey

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