‘Windows Anti Hacking Department’ Pop-Ups

Posted: December 22, 2015

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:	70

First Seen:	December 22, 2015
Last Seen:	February 18, 2022
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

The 'Windows Anti Hacking Department' pop-ups are fake safety warnings that hackers use for gaining remote access to your PC. Following the security advice provided in these attacks may harm your computer by giving con artists the ability to modify its settings, collect your information or install threatening software. Although your browser should include security features capable of minimizing attacks like the 'Windows Anti Hacking Department' pop-ups, malware experts also recommend scanning your PC with anti-malware products after this attack.

How to Get Your PC Hacked by Anti-Hackers

The 'Windows Anti Hacking Department' pop-ups, as a hoax campaign, have been occurring throughout the latter half of 2015, and may be associated with fake hotlines such as the '866-998-0517' and '971-217-9514' numbers. While malware experts see few operational differences between the 'Windows Anti Hacking Department' pop-ups and similar attacks, these pop-ups are just as effective at providing a platform for con artists to collect your information or cause other damages. The 'Windows Anti Hacking Department' pop-ups target Windows users explicitly by using content formatted to fake the appearance of a Windows Security Essentials Alert window.

The 'Windows Anti Hacking Department' pop-ups use browser scripts to generate an additional pop-up window superimposed on your current browser window. Some PC users may be unable to close this window or switch to other programs without using a keyboard shortcut. Meanwhile, the content of the 'Windows Anti Hacking Department' pop-ups may indicate that your PC is infected with spyware, suffers from network-related vulnerabilities or is using pirated software. Regardless of whether these claims are true, the 'Windows Anti Hacking Department' pop-ups aren't designed for detecting the above threats and aren't affiliated with Microsoft.

Some of the issues you may suffer from following the recommendations of the 'Windows Anti Hacking Department' pop-ups may include:

Being asked to give a fraudulent repair technician the ability to access your PC remotely, giving him the equivalent of a backdoor without needing a backdoor Trojan.
Being asked to purchase software to repair your PC, protect it from threat attacks or register an old program's installation. Con artists may use these hoaxes for collecting information or money, or as excuses for installing threats.

Although malware experts have seen some evidence of the 'Windows Anti Hacking Department' pop-ups circulating over several months, these attacks have no firm associations with any brand of browser.

The Only 'Anti Hacking' Solution Windows Needs

Besides the browser-based attacks of this campaign, the 'Windows Anti Hacking Department' pop-ups also have been linked to phone-based tactics occurring independently. These incidents could be indications of con artists working with databases of collected data acquired from through earlier attacks. Alternately, spyware already may have collected the relevant information and, potentially, even loaded the 'Windows Anti Hacking Department' pop-ups after the fact.

The 'Windows Anti Hacking Department' pop-ups aren't legitimate Windows warnings and can't provide any form of security for your PC. Treat these attacks as being equal to incidental contact with a threatening website through which you can mitigate harm by using secure Web-browsing standards (such as turning off scripts). Although you should scan your PC with an anti-malware tool after similar attacks, removing the 'Windows Anti Hacking Department' pop-ups that reoccur may call for other steps. Malware researchers especially advise resetting your browser's cache, including your history of previously-visited sites and any cookies.

‘Windows Anti Hacking Department’ Pop-Ups

Threat Metric

How to Get Your PC Hacked by Anti-Hackers

The Only 'Anti Hacking' Solution Windows Needs

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