MSIL/PSW.LiteCoin.A

Posted: July 2, 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:	12

First Seen:	July 2, 2013
Last Seen:	May 12, 2023
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

MSIL/PSW.LiteCoin.A is spyware that attempts to compromise LiteCoin (an upgraded version of Bitcoin, a digital currency) wallets on the affected PC. Strong password protection on your LiteCoin wallet can help to prevent compromises through MSIL/PSW.LiteCoin.A, and the actual removal of MSIL/PSW.LiteCoin.A always should be handled by dedicated anti-malware software. SpywareRemove.com malware experts warn that, although MSIL/PSW.LiteCoin.A is a simply-coded form of spyware, MSIL/PSW.LiteCoin.A doesn't have any symptoms that could clue victims in to its attacks, and that automated anti-malware defenses usually will be required for finding, blocking or deleting MSIL/PSW.LiteCoin.A in a reasonable time frame.

MSIL/PSW.LiteCoin.A – a New Stage in Digital Currency Scavenging

Although MSIL/PSW.LiteCoin.A is not a very sophisticated Trojan, MSIL/PSW.LiteCoin.A is, in some ways, a step above previous Trojan miners that targeted the Bitcoin currency. With major Bitcoin-trading sites being anticipated to make the jump to (the supposedly more profitable than Bitcoin) LiteCoin in the future, criminals have raced to keep up with the trend, with MSIL/PSW.LiteCoin.A providing a way to steal LiteCoins without attracting any unwanted attention. Unlike a Bitcoin miner, MSIL/PSW.LiteCoin.A doesn't cause serious performance issues or other symptoms that might tip a victim off to its presence.

MSIL/PSW.LiteCoin.A's only function at this time is to upload the victim's wallet.dat file (the central file containing your LiteCoin account's currency) to a remote FTP address. Most likely, this is done to allow criminals to crack the wallets at their leisure via anti-crypto hash utilities and other techniques. Fortunately, attentive employees at ESET have notified the relevant Web server provider, who has provided a warning message to any victims accidentally loading the address. However, SpywareRemove.com malware research team warns that this warning doesn't do much about PCs that are already compromised by MSIL/PSW.LiteCoin.A.

Closing Off Your Wallet to MSIL/PSW.LiteCoin.A's Greedy Fingers

MSIL/PSW.LiteCoin.A doesn't include any major defenses against anti-malware software, and while MSIL/PSW.LiteCoin.A can be difficult to detect by eye, specialized PC security tools should easily be able to find and remove MSIL/PSW.LiteCoin.A. MSIL/PSW.LiteCoin.A's interest use of stealing the actual files related to already-present LiteCoin accounts differs from previous Bitcoin attacks, which usually centered around generating currency for remote accounts by exploiting the infected PC's resources. Whether or not this new technique also is leveraged against Bitcoin in the future, SpywareRemove.com malware experts recommend taking all appropriate defensive measures against potential attacks on any digital currencies that you may have amassed.

MSIL/PSW.LiteCoin.A's distribution methods are not yet confirmed, but its overall numbers of infections are estimated to be low. To keep that pleasing state of affairs in play, SpywareRemove.com malware researchers suggest the regular use of anti-malware products that can block typical infection vectors (such as drive-by-downloads) before MSIL/PSW.LiteCoin.A ever gets near your hard drive – or the money that's stored on it.

Technical Details

File System Modifications

Tutorials: If you wish to learn how to remove malware components manually, you can read the tutorials on how to find malware, kill unwanted processes, remove malicious DLLs and delete other harmful files. Always be sure to back up your PC before making any changes.

The following files were created in the system:

wallet.dat

File name: wallet.dat
File type: Data file
Mime Type: unknown/dat
Group: Malware file