Trojan Spy-XR

Posted: January 2, 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.

Ranking:	10,380
Threat Level:	1/10
Infected PCs:	2,066

First Seen:	January 5, 2012
Last Seen:	March 9, 2025
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

Trojan Spy-XR is a Trojan with a scripted propagation method that was recently-embedded in the homepage of Amnesty International (a human rights organization) by hackers. Besides being distributed by this innocent website so that Trojan Spy-XR can automatically install itself, Trojan Spy-XR may also attempt to steal sensitive data from your PC, such as passwords, account logins and other types of privy data. SpywareRemove.com malware analysts recommend that you avoid Amnesty International's website until this sabotage has been confirmed to be fixed, although keeping JavaScript up-to-date will also allow you to patch out the exploit that Trojan Spy-XR uses for installation. Detection and removal of Trojan Spy-XR is preferentially-done with anti-malware products if such are available, as is generally the case with the removal of PC threats that are designed to hide from view.

A Hop and a Skip to Trojan Spy-XR with Help from JavaScript and AI

Although Trojan Spy-XR was previously in evidence early in August of 2011, Trojan Spy-XR gained recent attention due to its being used as part of an attack against the Amnesty International website. This attack inserted code that reused a Java exploit that was, in turn, hosted at yet another type of compromised site (in this case, a Brazilian automobile website), and the ultimate result was to install Trojan Spy-XR. As of the time of this writing there's no word on whether or not this security breach has been successfully-closed by either Amnesty International or the Brazil-based site, and SpywareRemove.com malware researchers recommend that you keep your distance until this attack avenue for Trojan Spy-XR is closed.

Once on your PC, Trojan Spy-XR may be complicit in any or all of the following issues, at a minimum:

Changes to your network settings that allow Trojan Spy-XR to download or upload files in a circumspect and unauthorized fashion.
Loss of RAM and other system resources as Trojan Spy-XR maintains itself in the form of a resident memory process.
Theft of personal information - particularly financial data that's related to Amnesty International's human rights activities (given the initial target of the attack).

Patching Trojan Spy-XR Out of the Possibilities for Your Web-Browsing Risks

Because Trojan Spy-XR's propagation exploit at Amnesty International's site uses a JavaScript exploit to function, you can defend your PC against this means of Trojan Spy-XR attack by patching JavaScript (which has been confirmed to be updated to fix this exploit), by disabling JavaScript for the relevant websites or by simply keeping JavaScript from being installed at all. Even with these safeguards in position, however, SpywareRemove.com malware researchers recommend that you keep anti-malware software to protect against other methods of Trojan Spy-XR attack.

Trojan Spy-XR may show few or no signs of being on your PC, and so you should use PC security products to detect Trojan Spy-XR, when necessary. Trojan Spy-XR may also be detected by the alias Trj/Spy-XR, depending on the brand of software you use to find and delete Trojan Spy-XR.

Trojan Spy-XR

Threat Metric

A Hop and a Skip to Trojan Spy-XR with Help from JavaScript and AI

Patching Trojan Spy-XR Out of the Possibilities for Your Web-Browsing Risks

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