URL:Mal
Posted: October 4, 2012
Threat Metric
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: | 1/10 |
---|---|
Infected PCs: | 64 |
First Seen: | October 4, 2012 |
---|---|
Last Seen: | June 17, 2022 |
OS(es) Affected: | Windows |
URL:Mal is a generic alert for web page URLs that include malicious content. Such content often consists of phishing attacks, exploits that download malware onto your PC automatically or socially-engineered attempts to get you to download malware yourself. URL:Mal is most likely to be seen when accidentally visiting malicious sites, but URL:Mal can also be detected on hacked websites or sites that have been altered with content injected by advanced types of malware (banking Trojans and some variants of browser hijackers). SpywareRemove.com malware research team recommends that you keep anti-malware software with web-browsing protection open at all times as the best guard against URL:Mal, which can be responsible for attacks that don't show visible symptoms.
URL:Mal and the Download That You Didn't See Coming
URL:Mal is often associated with sites that try to install malicious software automatically. These sites may use exploits like HXXP URLs or the prolific Blackhole Exploit Kit to evade your browser's security features, although anti-malware products should be able to detect drive-by-download attacks as they occur. Redirects to URL:Mal websites also can be included in browser hijacker attacks (which use previously installed malware to redirect your browser without your permission) or in harmless sites that have been hacked to include hostile code. SpywareRemove.com malware research team also notes that redirects and other attacks involving URL:Mal tend to use readily-exploitable features like Java, JavaScript, Adobe software or default Windows programs. Disabling these programs when they're not required and keeping them updated at all times should help to reduce the potential for contact with URL:Mal.
Drive-by-downloads involving URL:Mal can install various types of spyware without your permission. Popular payloads include Trojan downloaders, multicomponent rootkits and (for Europe in particular) police ransomware. However, there aren't any strict limits to what kinds of PC threats can be installed by exploits through URL:Mal. Any suspected contact with URL:Mal always should be followed up with an anti-malware analysis of your PC by appropriate software.
All the Little Things in URL:Mal's Bag of Tricks
Drive-by-download exploits may be the primary threat from URL:Mal, but URL:Mal can also be used for other attacks. SpywareRemove.com malware experts have listed some of the most common attacks involved with malicious websites:
- Social engineering attacks. URL:Mal may display fake updates for Flash, Java, your web browser or your favorite movie player. Alternately, URL:Mal may pretend to scan your computer and then alert you to fake infections that seemingly can be deleted by downloading a rogue anti-malware program. In either case, these attacks attempt to get victims to download and install malicious software of their own accord.
- Phishing attacks. These are highly-linked to social engineering techniques, although they don't encourage you to download malware. Instead, phishing attacks try to steal personal information. This attack may be displayed as a survey or prize-winning form. Some very sophisticated phishing attacks will inject malicious content into a normal web page as they make requests for additional information (for example, by pretending to be a new security measure from your bank).
With anti-malware protection at your service, you shouldn't need to respond to URL:Mal in any way other than refusing to visit any sites that display this alert before they load. In rare cases of URL:Mal being linked directly to infections on your computer, SpywareRemove.com malware experts recommend using anti-malware products to resolve the issue reliably.
Leave a Reply
Please note that we are not able to assist with billing and support issues regarding SpyHunter or other products. If you're having issues with SpyHunter, please get in touch with SpyHunter customer support through your SpyHunter . If you have SpyHunter billing questions, we recommend you check the Billing FAQ. For general suggestions or feedback, contact us.