Symptoms
Several "iexplore.exe" processes with a hidden window.
Presence of specified names.
Increased network activity.
Computer slowdowns.
IE popups.
Removal instructions:
Kill the "iexplore.exe" processes with hidden window and delete the infected files.
Analyzed By
Dan Anton, virus researcher
Technical Description:
Trojan.Swizzor.2 is the name for a generic detection of an obfuscated downloader that usually comes bundled with other software (like 3wPlayer or such called BitTorrent optimization tools).
When such a tool is installed, it downloads a copy of
Trojan.Swizzor.2 and saves it as:
%Temp%\minime.exeWhen this downloaded file is executed, it starts a new "
iexplore.exe" process with a hidden window, it injects its code into the new started process and starts downloading other copies of
Trojan.Swizzor.1 in the
%Temp% folder and saves them to
%AppData%\[random-folder-name]\[random-file-name] or
%User-AppData%\[random-folder-name]\[random-file-name].It also creates a new registry subkey with a random name under
HKCU\Software\[random-subkey-name].
Some of the downloaded files files may be added to the following registry subkeys in order to ensure the trojan is executed at every system start-up:
- HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\"[random-value-name]"
- HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run\"[random-value-name]"
[random-folder-name],
[random-file-name],
[random-subkey-name] and
[random-value-name] consists of a random English words of 3 or 4 letters such as:
- bind army eggs joy
- byte save meta
- bore user bike
- htm try
- modethis
- stopcakedumb
A new hidden Windows task with a random name (like:
A3B0D938919B5400.job) may also be created to start one of the downloaded file every hour.
A few examples of the IP-s
Trojan.Swizzor.2 may be downloaded from are:
- 64.34.228.[hide]
- 205.234.175.[hide] (vip1.[hide].cachefly.net)
%Temp% refers to Temporary folder (in Windows XP, default is: C:\Documents and Settings\[User-Name]\Local Settings\Temp").
%AppData% refers to All Users Application Data folder (in Windows XP, default is: C:\Documents and Settings\All Users\Application Data").
%User-AppData% refers to User Application Data folder (in Windows XP, default is: C:\Documents and Settings\[User-Name]\Application Data").
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