Trojan.Win32.KillWin.sp

Posted: April 12, 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.

Ranking:	13,327
Threat Level:	9/10
Infected PCs:	265

First Seen:	April 12, 2013
Last Seen:	October 5, 2023
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

Trojan.Win32.KillWin.sp is a Trojan that's associated with backdoor Trojan attacks targeted against various gaming company employees. Although Trojan.Win32.KillWin.sp doesn't include the actual backdoor functions of such attacks, its own functions possess a high potential for wiping your hard drive data or stealing information that's stored in various file types (primarily various forms of text documents). Since Trojan.Win32.KillWin.sp infections usually include other Trojans along with them, SpywareRemove.com malware researchers suggest using comprehensive anti-malware scans for finding and deleting Trojan.Win32.KillWin.sp, in addition to related Trojans.

Trojan.Win32.KillWin.sp: An Accidental Windows Eraser

Although Trojan.Win32.KillWin.sp includes a secondary function for which Trojan.Win32.KillWin.sp was named, Trojan.Win32.KillWin.sp appears to be designed primarily for targeting and stealing documents that hold confidential data. Files that are targeted by Trojan.Win32.KillWin.sp include:

HTM and HTML (web documents)
XLS and XLSX (Microsoft Excel)
PPT (PowerPoint)
TXT (Text, or Notepad)
DOC and DOCX (Microsoft Word)
CHM (HTMLHelp contextual 'help' resources)
WPS (MS Works)
PDF (Adobe Reader/Acrobat)

Winnti, the group known for using Trojan.Win32.KillWin.sp, has a reputation for targeting information that's related to source codes and/or digital certificates. Winnti has been active since at least 2010, and SpywareRemove.com malware experts, along with others in the industry, have observed attacks like Trojan.Win32.KillWin.sp's own occur at various gaming companies around the world.

After scanning your computer for the files listed above, Trojan.Win32.KillWin.sp most likely uploads them to a remote server for perusal by the criminals that installed Trojan.Win32.KillWin.sp. In case Trojan.Win32.KillWin.sp can't read the file format of your hard drive, Trojan.Win32.KillWin.sp also includes a form of overkill fail-safe: Trojan.Win32.KillWin.sp erases your HD by overwriting it with junk data. SpywareRemove.com malware researchers note that non-FAT and non-NTFS file systems are in the most danger of being targeted by Trojan.Win32.KillWin.sp's second attack, which includes the default file structures of non-Windows OSes like Linux and Mac OS X. In some cases, Trojan.Win32.KillWin.sp also may 'accidentally' overwrite an NTFS hard drive, which puts Windows computers at risk of being wiped.

Resurrecting Windows from a Trojan.Win32.KillWin.sp Attack

Trojan.Win32.KillWin.sp attacks almost always occur in conjunction with other PC threats, particularly backdoor Trojans. Although the initial infection that results in Trojan.Win32.KillWin.sp's installation can be distributed by e-mail, SpywareRemove.com malware experts warn that infections related to any other PCs in the same workspace (such as those sharing local networks) appear to be compromised through backdoor attacks that steal any relevant login data as opposed to spamming the infected PC user's associates.

Gaming company employees are the primary targets of attacks that use Trojan.Win32.KillWin.sp, which tend to originate from the China-based Winnti group of criminals. However, appropriate network and PC security measures appear to be effective at dissuading prolonged attack campaigns against any targeted computers. Due to its destructive potential and flaws triggering mechanisms, Trojan.Win32.KillWin.sp is labeled as a high-level PC threat, and SpywareRemove.com malware experts encourage removing Trojan.Win32.KillWin.sp with a hefty anti-malware product swiftly.

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:

ff._exe

File name: ff._exe
Mime Type: unknown/_exe
Group: Malware file