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Trojan:Win32/FakeSpypro

First posted on 16 April 2009.
Source: SecurityHome

Aliases :

Trojan:Win32/FakeSpypro is also known as Also Known As:FakeAlert-C.dr (McAfee), SpywareProtect2009 (Symantec), Troj/FakeAV-LS (Sophos), Win32/Adware.SpywareProtect2009 (ESET), .Win32.FraudPack.kho (Kaspersky), Spyware Protect 2009 (other).

Explanation :

Trojan:Win32/FakeSpypro is a rogue security program that falsely claims that the affected machine is infected with malware and encourages the user to buy a promoted product for cleaning the alleged malware from the computer.

Special Note:

Reports of Rogue Antivirus programs have been more prevalent as of late. These are programs that generate misleading alerts and false detections in order to convince users to purchase illegitimate security software. Some of these programs may display product names or logos in an apparently unlawful attempt to impersonate Microsoft products. Use Microsoft Windows Defender, the Windows Live safety scanner (http://onecare.live.com/site/en-us/default.htm), or another up-to-date scanning and removal tool to detect and remove these threats and other unwanted software from your computer. For more information on Microsoft security products, see http://www.microsoft.com/protect/products/computer/default.mspx.

Symptoms
Symptoms vary among different distributions of Trojan:Win32/FakeSpypro, however, the presence of the following system changes (or similar) may indicate the presence of this program:

Presence of the following files, or similar (for example):
"%windir%sysguard.exe"
"<system folder>iehelper.dll"

Presence of the following registry modifications or similar (for example):
Adds value: "system tool "

With data: "%windir%sysguard.exe",To subkey: HKCUSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionRun

Adds value: "(default)"With data: “bho”To subkey: HKLMSOFTWAREClassesCLSID{C9C42510-9B21-41c1-9DCD-8382A2D07C61} Adds value: "(default)"With data: “<system folder>iehelper.dll”To subkey: HKLMSOFTWAREClassesCLSID{C9C42510-9B21-41c1-9DCD-8382A2D07C61}InProcServer32 Adds value: "(default)"With data: "0”,To subkey: HKLMSOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerBrowser Helper Objects{C9C42510-9B21-41c1-9DCD-8382A2D07C61}

Display of the following images/dialogs, or similar (for example):

Win32/FakeSpypro is a rogue security program that falsely claims that the affected machine is infected with malware and encourages the user to buy a promoted product for cleaning the alleged malware from the computer.InstallationTrojan:Win32/FakeSpypro may be installed from the program's web site or by social engineering from third party web sites. When executed, Win32/FakeSpypro copies itself to "%windir%sysguard.exe" and sets a registry entry to run itself at each system start: Adds value: "system tool "With data: "%windir%sysguard.exe",To subkey: HKCUSoftwareMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionRunIt drops a DLL component to "<system folder>iehelper.dll" and sets the following registry values to load the dropped DLL at Windows start and to register the DLL component as a BHO:Adds value: "(default)"With data: “bho”To subkey: HKLMSOFTWAREClassesCLSID{C9C42510-9B21-41c1-9DCD-8382A2D07C61} Adds value: "(default)"With data: “<system folder>iehelper.dll”To subkey: HKLMSOFTWAREClassesCLSID{C9C42510-9B21-41c1-9DCD-8382A2D07C61}InProcServer32 Adds value: "(default)"With data: "0”,To subkey: HKLMSOFTWAREMicrosoftWindowsCurrentVersionExplorerBrowser Helper Objects{C9C42510-9B21-41c1-9DCD-8382A2D07C61} It also creates the following registry subkey:HKEY_CURRENT_USERSoftwareAvScanPayloadDownloads Arbitrary FilesWin32/FakeSpypro may download files from a particular URL. In the wild, it was observed downloading files from the 'spywrprotect-2009.com' domain. Displays Misleading Messages and AlertsWhen the trojan's executable, sysguard.exe, runs it displays the following interface: The trojan regularly displays false warnings of malware infection: It may also display pop-ups such as the following: Modifies Hosts FileWin32/FakeSpypro modifies the Windows Hosts file. The local Hosts file overrides the DNS resolution of a web site URL to a particular IP address. Malicious software may make modifications to the Hosts file in order to redirect specified URLs to different IP addresses. Malware often modifies an affected machine's hosts file in order to stop users from accessing websites associated with particular security-related applications (such as antivirus for example). Win32/FakeSpypro modifies the Hosts file under <system folder>driversetchosts, to block access to security-related web sites and to redirect users to a site related to "Spyware Protect 2009". It adds the following entry to the Hosts file:'195.245.119.131 browser-security.microsoft.com'

Analysis by Wei Li

Last update 16 April 2009

 

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