Rootkit.Boot.STT.a

Posted: August 10, 2012

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:	2/10
Infected PCs:	63

First Seen:	August 10, 2012
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

Rootkit.Boot.STT.a is a rootkit that's often associated with the presence of rogue anti-malware products and PC threats that infect removable drives (such as worms). Rootkit.Boot.STT.a is still actively-distributed, although symptoms of Rootkit.Boot.STT.a attacks may not always readily visible. Like other rootkits, Rootkit.Boot.STT.a compromises your operating system's integrity to conceal itself, and SpywareRemove.com malware research team recommends that you use advanced anti-malware software to detect and delete Rootkit.Boot.STT.a without damaging your computer. Rootkit.Boot.STT.a also has a high probability of conducting attacks that use a significant amount of the infected PC's resources (by recruiting your PC into a botnet, using keylogging functions, etc), and these hidden functions can correspond to a noticeable degradation of your OS's performance until Rootkit.Boot.STT.a is removed.

Rootkit.Boot.STT.a – the Monkey in Your PC without an Obvious Cause

While Rootkit.Boot.STT.a is designed to avoid overt symptoms of its presence and attacks, Rootkit.Boot.STT.a's payload has often been noted to cause a range of minor but independently-detectable symptoms that anyone can notice. While SpywareRemove.com malware experts note that relying on manual detection of these symptoms isn't a substitute for appropriate rootkit-detecting software, symptoms of Rootkit.Boot.STT.a's attacks have been known to include:

Browser redirects that promote irrelevant advertisements or potentially malicious sites; particularly sites that are related to rogue anti-malware software such as fake anti-virus scanners.
Poor system performance that causes instability in unrelated programs, including a noticeable overall slowdown of your operating system.
Unwanted changes to your desktop or start menu, such as additional shortcuts or removed shortcuts.
Random system crashes (in Windows, well-known as the notorious Blue Screen of Death or BSOD).
Problems with accessing infected directories, especially your Windows\system32 folder.
Error messages related to infected USB flash drives, such as alerts that claim that the device is in use even if you're not using it.

The Risk of Rootkit.Boot.STT.a to Windows Users

Rootkit.Boot.STT.a has been confirmed to be able to affect XP versions of Windows even if they have the latest Service Pack (SP3), although SpywareRemove.com malware analysts haven't been able to confirm Rootkit.Boot.STT.a for other versions of Windows just yet. Despite this, it's not recommended that you avoid updating to SP3, since that Service Pack does close security exploits that are related to other PC threats. However, as a recently-distributed PC threat, Rootkit.Boot.STT.a should be considered a potential danger even for modern versions of that platform such as Windows 7.

Since PC threats related to Rootkit.Boot.STT.a have a good chance of infecting removable USB drives, SpywareRemove.com malware experts advise against sharing such devices with other PCs until they've been disinfected. Of course, you should also delete Rootkit.Boot.STT.a with any necessary brand of anti-malware scanner, since Rootkit.Boot.STT.a's presence is a security threat that can be used to install or protect other types of malignant software.

Rootkit.Boot.STT.a

Threat Metric

Rootkit.Boot.STT.a – the Monkey in Your PC without an Obvious Cause

The Risk of Rootkit.Boot.STT.a to Windows Users

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