New Trojan Targets Adware
Antivirus maker Symantec has reported the arrival of a spooky Trojan Horse online, which does something unique. Codenamed Downloader.Lunii, it attacks and even removes advertisement enabled softwares, which are generally considered harmful for the system. On execution of the code, it tries to kill the processes associated with a long list of adware applications and delete the files used by them.
Even though it looks useful from this angle, the security firm warns users that like all other Trojans it is no saint and still can be harmful to the system. It runs on the system, eats system resources, and even uses off bandwidth trying to download files from remote locations. Another interesting thing about this Trojan is that it even overwrites an existing host file (used for blocking system’s access to certain sites) with a list of nasty servers.
Symantec has however rated this Trojan at threat level 1 and have provided details about it on their website. Users with the latest definitions from Norton are equipped with Norton Antivirus capable of detecting this worm.
What is AdWare?
Adware or advertising-supported software is any software application in which advertisements are displayed while the program is running. These applications include additional code that displays the ads in pop-up windows or through a bar that appears on a computer screen. Adware helps recover program development costs, and helps to hold down the price of making the application for the user, often making it free of charge. Malicious adware may be a cost cutting option for Internet marketers, but is a direct burden on most Internet users who have infected Microsoft IE browsers.
