Spike Botnet

Posted: October 3, 2014

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:	8/10
Infected PCs:	81

First Seen:	October 3, 2014
Last Seen:	October 31, 2020
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

The Spike botnet is a Distributed-Denial-of-Service network that consists of machines infected by its payload and a range of Command & Control servers. Infected machines may be forced to commit DDoS attacks at the cost of their system resources, allowing the Spike botnet to crash targeted servers at will. While the Spike botnet shows minimal creativity in terms of its attacks, the Spike botnet has distinguished itself for its broad compatibility with many types of Internet-capable devices. PC users are advised to use anti-malware products to remove Spike botnet Trojans from their systems, and other, vulnerable devices should be patched to block any preventable breaches of security.

A Denial of Service that may Come from Almost Anything

Although botnet Trojans aren't new to the world (the average Trojan-based botnet previously rounded out at twenty thousand machines), updates to old threats continue to provide malware researchers with new threats to inspect. The Spike botnet, which uses a toolkit that third parties may configure for diverse attack campaigns, began its life as a threat solely to Linux PCs. However, its latest updates have granted the Spike botnet's Trojan payloads compatibility with other machines, including:

Windows-based PCs. Both 32-bit and 64-bit systems are at risk, albeit by different variants of the Spike botnet's payload.
IoT (or 'Internet of Things') devices using Linux. ARM devices frequently are mobile, with a platform architecture favored for cheap production and low power requirements. Examples of ARM devices that could be attacked by a Spike botnet Trojan include smartphones, tablets and PDAs.

Just as with any other botnet infection, a successful installation of a Spike botnet Trojan allows third parties to incorporate the machine into their zombie botnet. From there, instructions may be issued for the machine to simulate Web traffic. When this traffic multiplies itself across a range of infected machines, it may disable bank websites or other, equally-critical Internet services.

The Spike botnet, like most botnets, issues limited or no symptoms for users of infected machines, even after a successful attack. In some cases, unusual spikes in network activity or system resource expenditures may be noticeable.

Pulling the Spike botnet out of Your Network

Although the Spike botnet focuses on initiating attacks that target external servers, rather than the infected machines, its ability to enable remote code execution could be utilized in other ways besides launching DDoS floods. If you suspect a computer of being a part of a Spike botnet, appropriate anti-malware solutions should be put into play immediately. Malware experts haven't identified all of the distribution methods in use by these threats, but, e-mail spam, disguised social networking links and concealed bundles circulated on illegal downloading networks are typical methods.

Trojans that are part of a Spike botnet show few differences from other, similar botnet-based threats. The symptoms of such an infection frequently are minor or nonexistent. However, malware researchers do advise you to be attentive to unusual system resource spikes or inexplicable program slowdowns.

Spike Botnet

Threat Metric

A Denial of Service that may Come from Almost Anything

Pulling the Spike botnet out of Your Network

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