TROJ_PONMOCOP

Posted: July 3, 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:	9/10
Infected PCs:	50

First Seen:	July 3, 2012
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

TROJ_PONMOCOP (including sub-variants like TROJ_PONMOCOP.SM) is a Trojan that uses advanced encryption techniques to avoid its detection by anti-malware software and may also cause unusual printer behavior as a side effect of its attacks. TROJ_PONMOCOP will also gather information to send to a remote server and disable a limited subset of security software, and this behavior may be used to advance future attacks against your PC. Although TROJ_PONMOCOP may not be considered a high-level threat due to its limited payload, SpywareRemove.com malware researchers still encourage you to remove TROJ_PONMOCOP as soon as possible – particularly if you want your printer to stop printing random code and start printing photos and text files again.

How TROJ_PONMOCOP Got Iin, and How to Get It Out

TROJ_PONMOCOP is distributed by malicious websites and may be encountered as mislabeled .zip files on forums – or even installed automatically by browser exploits. SpywareRemove.com malware researchers can only recommend that you scan all files before you download them, keep your browser settings strict and avoid disreputable sites as means of warding off potential infection vectors for TROJ_PONMOCOP.

TROJ_PONMOCOP uses exceptionally sophisticated methods of covering its tracks, with a default structure that includes several stages of encryption and memory-loaded code (the latter to avoid the presence of obviously malicious files). In its final stages, TROJ_PONMOCOP may be recognizable as multiple .dll files; however, since these files are in multiple locations and use random names, you should preferably use anti-malware software to detect TROJ_PONMOCOP's components and delete TROJ_PONMOCOP from your computer.

Policing TROJ_PONMOCOP's PC Sabotage

While TROJ_PONMOCOP's main function is to send minor amounts of system information to a remote server, TROJ_PONMOCOP also includes other attacks that will cause more obvious symptoms than the ones noted earlier:

Like Trojan.Milicenso and TROJ_AGENT.BCPC, TROJ_PONMOCOP can cause your printer to print out long pages of random symbols (in actuality, this is the code for some of TROJ_PONMOCOP's files). SpywareRemove.com malware researchers suggest disabling your printer until TROJ_PONMOCOP is removed, a process that will not cause any permanent harm to the device.
TROJ_PONMOCOP will also use two separate methods to disable various security programs, including Windows Defender, Windows Security Center, the Microsoft Malware Protection Service and Microsoft Security Essentials. Some of these programs may be blocked at the memory level, while others may have their Registry entries deleted (the latter will require you to restore your Registry or reinstall the software).

Since TROJ_PONMOCOP's attacks do place your PC in a heightened state of vulnerability to other PC threats, SpywareRemove.com malware experts suggest deleting TROJ_PONMOCOP with unblocked anti-malware software as soon as you can access an appropriate program. TROJ_PONMOCOP is a significant danger to Windows 2K, XP and Server 2003 platforms, although other operating systems are (so far) safe from TROJ_PONMOCOP attacks.

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:

file.exe

File name: file.exe
Size: 163.84 KB (163840 bytes)
MD5: d469fcc0a1299c3e34d78387baeb01d7
Detection count: 71
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: July 4, 2012

%Program Files\{RANDOM FOLDER}\{RANDOM FILE NAME}.dll

File name: %Program Files\{RANDOM FOLDER}\{RANDOM FILE NAME}.dll
File type: Dynamic link library
Mime Type: unknown/dll
Group: Malware file

%Documents and Settings\{USER NAME}\Application Data\{RANDOM FILE NAME}.dll

File name: %Documents and Settings\{USER NAME}\Application Data\{RANDOM FILE NAME}.dll
File type: Dynamic link library
Mime Type: unknown/dll
Group: Malware file

%System%\{RANDOM FILE NAME}.dll

File name: %System%\{RANDOM FILE NAME}.dll
File type: Dynamic link library
Mime Type: unknown/dll
Group: Malware file

%Users\{USER NAME}\Appdata\Roaming\{RANDOM FILE NAME}.dll

File name: %Users\{USER NAME}\Appdata\Roaming\{RANDOM FILE NAME}.dll
File type: Dynamic link library
Mime Type: unknown/dll
Group: Malware file

%Windows%\SysWOW64\{RANDOM FILE NAME}.dll

File name: %Windows%\SysWOW64\{RANDOM FILE NAME}.dll
File type: Dynamic link library
Mime Type: unknown/dll
Group: Malware file

More files

Registry Modifications

The following newly produced Registry Values are:

HKEY..\..\..\..{Subkeys}HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run “Windows Defender”HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run “msse”HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Wow6432Node\{RANDOM CHARACTERS}HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Wow6432Node\{RANDOM CHARACTERS}HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\{RANDOM CHARACTERS}HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\{RANDOM CHARACTERS}HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\LowRegistry\Stats\{RANDOM CHARACTERS}HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\LowRegistry\Stats\{RANDOM CHARACTERS}\{RANDOM CHARACTERS}HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\software\Microsoft\MultimediaHKEY_CURRENT_USER\software\Microsoft\MultimediaHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\System\CurrentControlSetHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet SettingsHKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Internet Settings