W32.Extrat

Posted: November 13, 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:	5/10
Infected PCs:	60

First Seen:	November 13, 2012
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

W32.Extrat is a backdoor Trojan or RAT (Remote Administration Tool) that's used to grant control of your PC to an external party, as well as to steal information through various means. While W32.Extrat's functions are bog-standard for a PC threat of its type, its ability to compromise your PC's security and privacy shouldn't be underestimated – particularly since W32.Extrat uses social engineering-based installation methods to avoid being detected during its infiltration of the PC. Targets in the greatest danger of being selected for W32.Extrat attacks include businesses and government institutions in or near the region of Syria, given that W32.Extrat's most prominent attack campaign uses e-mail messages that claim to support the Syrian rebellion. Naturally, SpywareRemove.com malware experts stress the usefulness of caution around unusual e-mail messages and recommend using powerful anti-malware applications to delete W32.Extrat in cases of infection.

What W32.Extrat Will Merrily Extract from Your Hard Drive After Its Promise of Freedo

Several W32.Extrat-distributing campaigns appear to be underway at the moment, with one of the largest centering on targeting hotel chains, government agencies, oil companies, institutions of higher learning and other varied targets in the Syrian geopolitical region. The attack begins with an e-mail that's crafted to look like a pro-Syrian rebellion message, including what looks like a file attachment with further information. SpywareRemove.com malware researchers, unfortunately, have confirmed that this attachment leads to a series of redirects and exploits that turn out to install the backdoor Trojan W32.Extrat. While W32.Extrat is being installed, related PC threats also open a text document displaying a message from Sheikh Adnan al-Aroor (a Sunni cleric who often appears on regional television stations).

W32.Extrat then proceeds to launch automatically whenever Windows starts, with some of its components named to confuse them with normal Windows files. Besides the security-related issues that are common to all RATs, W32.Extrat includes keyboard input-recording capabilities and other spyware-related attacks that could be used to steal confidential information.

Extricating Yourself from W32.Extrat's Digital Confinement

While W32.Extrat grants control of your PC to third parties without your consent, you can undo this state of affairs by disabling and then deleting W32.Extrat and its various components. As a high-level PC threat, W32.Extrat should be deleted with anti-malware products if they're at all available, and SpywareRemove.com malware researchers discourage manual efforts to detect W32.Extrat if any other options are in reach – particularly since W32.Extrat disguises some of its files as components of Windows.

As noted in its list of favored targets, PC users in the Middle East, in particular, should be wary about opening strange file attachments from e-mails that appear to be sympathetic to rebellious uprising. SpywareRemove.com malware experts also stress that, if campaigns to distribute W32.Extrat elsewhere ever develop, W32.Extrat is entirely capable of compromising other PCs throughout the world.

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:

%Windir%\installdir\server.exe

File name: %Windir%\installdir\server.exe
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Group: Malware file

Registry Modifications

The following newly produced Registry Values are:

HKEY..\..\{Value}HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Policies\Explorer\Run\"Policies" = "%Windir%\installdir\server.exe"