AOL Password Stealing Trojan 171

· Overview ·
· Origins ·
· Distribution ·
· Operation ·
· Detection and Removal ·
· Research ·

Overview

Alias:

 APStrojan [McAfee], security risk or a "backdoor" program [F-Prot], Trojan.AOL.PS.cn [Kaspersky]

Category:

AOL Pest: Any password stealer, exploit, DoS attack, or ICQ hack aimed at users of AOL. ICQ is an instant messenger service from mirabilis.com, now AOL. ICQ is a favorite service among hackers, and ICQ features are built into many trojans (such as stealing user's passwords, UINs, or notifying the hacker). Users of ICQ are warned ""By using the ICQ service and software... you may be subject to various risks, including... Spoofing, eavesdropping, sniffing, spamming, breaking passwords, harassment, fraud, forgery, 'imposturing', electronic trespassing, tampering, hacking, nuking, system contamination including without limitation use of viruses, worms and Trojan horses causing unauthorized, damaging or harmful access and/or retrieval of information and data on your computer and other forms of activity that may even be considered unlawful.""

Similar Pests:

 AOL Pest

Origins

Date of Origin:

 March, 1998

Distribution

Prevalence:
  • AOL Password Stealing Trojan 171: < 0.00005%
    • More Info

    Clot Factor:
  • AOL Password Stealing Trojan 171: < 1

    • The "Clot Factor" is a measure of how much a pest "gums up" a machine by adding registry entries, files, and directories. As more objects are placed in a machine, manual removal becomes more difficult and more error-prone.

    Countries Affected:

    		 In the past three months, we have received reports of AOL Password Stealing Trojan 171 in United States.

    Operation

    Storage Required:
  • AOL Password Stealing Trojan 171: at least 65 KB
    		•

    Detection and Removal

    Automatic Removal:

    PestPatrol detects this.

    PestPatrol removes this.

    Manual Removal:

    		 Follow these steps to remove AOL Password Stealing Trojan 171 from your machine. Begin by backing up your registry and your system, and/or setting a Restore Point, to prevent trouble if you make a mistake.
    Stop Running Processes:

    Kill these running processes with Task Manager:

    Remove Files:

    Remove these files (if present) with Windows Explorer:

    Research

    File Analyses:

    More Info:
  • AllTheWeb, AltaVista, AOL Search, Ask Jeeves, Google, HotBot, Lycos, LookSmart, MSN, Yahoo!
    		•

    Research By:
  • PestPatrol's Pest Research Center
    		•

    Last Revised:

    		 April 14, 2005