VIHunter

Posted: September 19, 2011

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:	8/10
Infected PCs:	37

First Seen:	September 19, 2011
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

VIHunter is a Korean scamware program that pretends to offer your computer anti-malware and other security-related services. To their regret, SpywareRemove.com malware researchers have found that VIHunter is a typical rogue security program that uses fake alerts instead of real ones and badgers you for money that VIHunter doesn't justify, by VIHunter's nonexistent features. Although the sham of VIHunter's anti-malware marketing is focused on Korea as is the majority of VIHunter's actual interface, VIHunter may still be able to infect non-Korean operating systems and should be considered a potential threat to your PC. If you suspect that you've acquired a VIHunter infection on your computer, a real anti-malware program, along with Safe Mode or another method of disabling VIHunter's startup routine, will allow you to remove VIHunter without any trouble.

Symptoms of VIHunter Marking Your PC as Its Prey

The most likely route of a VIHunter infection is a malicious Korean website or a compromised file that was downloaded from a Korean source. Although VIHunter will try to avoid alerting you during the installation process, afterwards VIHunter will make no bones about being on your PC with very obvious visual flags. Signs of VIHunter's attacks include the list of symptoms below:

Scanner simulations that identify a variety of fake infections on your PC. VIHunter may run these fake scans without being prompted and will always use them to make it look like your computer is heavily-infected.
Unusual errors messages that mimic the appearance of typical Windows warnings but contain inaccurate information.
Blocked software, with a particular focus on security software (such as anti-virus scanners or the Windows Task Manager) that could help you find or delete VIHunter.
Browser hijacks that redirect your browser to VIHunter's own website. These hijacks may use system settings that utilize the Registry or other non-browser parts of your PC, so you shouldn't try to change or uninstall your browser to stop these VIHunter redirect attacks.

Putting a Stop to VIHunter's Hunt for Your Cash

Although VIHunter will use the attacks noted above to request money in exchange for removing these fake problems, SpywareRemove.com malware experts hasten to note that there's no justification for spending money on VIHunter. Instead of throwing your money at VIHunter and hoping that VIHunter stops harming your PC, you should remove VIHunter by using a real PC security program that can detect and remove VIHunter with accurate system scans.

A Safe Mode-based boot may be necessary to stop VIHunter from launching itself and interfering with the system scan. However, Safe Mode is accessible on all Windows computers and will allow you to run any software that's necessary to get rid of VIHunter. If you require updates to your software before you scan your computer for VIHunter, it's strongly recommended that you use the 'Safe Mode with Networking' option, to allow for Internet connectivity.

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:

%Temp%\vihunter

File name: %Temp%\vihunter
Group: Malware file

%ProgramFiles%\vihunter

File name: %ProgramFiles%\vihunter
Group: Malware file

%StartMenu%\Programs\vihunter

File name: %StartMenu%\Programs\vihunter
Group: Malware file

%Desktop%\vihunter.lnk

File name: %Desktop%\vihunter.lnk
File type: Shortcut
Mime Type: unknown/lnk
Group: Malware file

%StartMenu%\vihunter.lnk

File name: %StartMenu%\vihunter.lnk
File type: Shortcut
Mime Type: unknown/lnk
Group: Malware file

Registry Modifications

The following newly produced Registry Values are:

HKEY..\..\{CLSID Path}HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\vihunterMainHKEY..\..\..\..{Subkeys}HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\vihunterHKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\vihunterMain

Additional Information

The following URL's were detected:

Vihunter.com