Trojan.HiddenFilesFraud.A

Posted: March 8, 2012

Threat Metric

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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.

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Ranking:	3,658
Threat Level:	2/10
Infected PCs:	31,047

First Seen:	March 8, 2012
Last Seen:	October 16, 2023
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

Trojan.HiddenFilesFraud.A is a Trojan that assists related PC threats in encouraging you to spend money on its associated scamware. Sadly, Trojan.HiddenFilesFraud.A's marketing plan largely consists of making most files and some shortcuts invisible, while other PC threats (such as the Brontok worm and rogue defraggers like Windows XP Repair) will, in turn, prevent you from reversing these changes or detecting their origin. If all your files seem to vanish, though, don't worry – Trojan.HiddenFilesFraud.A isn't capable of deleting or damaging your files, and once you've removed Trojan.HiddenFilesFraud.A and its companions with a suitable anti-malware program, you'll be able to find your files just as they were before Trojan.HiddenFilesFraud.A's entrance, safe and sound.

Trojan.HiddenFilesFraud.A: A Dash of Ransomware and a Drizzle of Fraudulent System Optimization

Trojan.HiddenFilesFraud.A is part of an exceptionally well-coordinated attack that uses multiple PC threats to nail together what amounts to a house of horrors, as far as your computer's security is concerned. While such attacks are often used by sophisticated PC threats like rootkits, they're somewhat rarer for the scamware and ransomware characteristics that Trojan.HiddenFilesFraud.A displays. Trojan.HiddenFilesFraud.A's functions, by themselves, are limited to a simple but extremely effective scaremongering tactic: by hiding your files with System or Hidden attributes, Trojan.HiddenFilesFraud.A makes it appear as though everything on your PC has vanished.

SpywareRemove.com malware researchers emphasize that this Houdini-style trick doesn't damage your files in any way; Trojan.HiddenFilesFraud.A merely makes it appear as though your files are gone when, in reality, they're both present and unharmed. However, since an accompany PC threat, the worm Win32.Brontok.AP@mm, will prevent you from changing your system settings in a way that would let you view your files, you may be inclined to panic. This is exactly what Win32.Brontok.AP@mm and Trojan.HiddenFilesFraud.A want, since they rely on that panic to sell a third PC threat: the fake defragger and system optimizer, Windows XP Repair.

How to Cancel Trojan.HiddenFilesFraud.A's Disappearing Trick

While Trojan.HiddenFilesFraud.A will want you to spend money on Windows XP Repair (or a related type of rogue defragger) to fix the problems that Trojan.HiddenFilesFraud.A has, itself, been causing, SpywareRemove.com malware analysts suggest a different course of action. Removing Trojan.HiddenFilesFraud.A, Win32.Brontok.AP@mm and Windows XP Repair via suitable anti-malware software will allow you to undo any lingering setting changes and let you gain access to your files once more. Until this is done, you should be very attentive to your computer's security and any contact it may have with other PCs since Win32.Brontok.AP@mm, as a worm, is quite capable of propagating through local networks and through storage devices, such as USB thumb drives.

Even though Trojan.HiddenFilesFraud.A's characteristic file-disappearing act is difficult to miss, you should also be on the alert of other symptoms of Trojan.HiddenFilesFraud.A and its comrade PC threats. Additional symptoms consist largely of fake system alerts, web browser redirects and attacks against legitimate security programs like anti-virus scanners.

Technical Details

Additional Information

The following URL's were detected:

beparaspr.com