TROJ_ARTIEF.AEB
Threat Scorecard
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EnigmaSoft Threat Scorecards are assessment reports for different malware threats which have been collected and analyzed by our research team. EnigmaSoft Threat Scorecards evaluate and rank threats using several metrics including real-world and potential risk factors, trends, frequency, prevalence, and persistence. EnigmaSoft Threat Scorecards are updated regularly based on our research data and metrics and are useful for a wide range of computer users, from end users seeking solutions to remove malware from their systems to security experts analyzing threats.
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Severity Level: The determined severity level of an object, represented numerically, based on our risk modeling process and research, as explained in our Threat Assessment Criteria.
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| Threat Level: | 90 % (High) |
| Infected Computers: | 57 |
| First Seen: | December 21, 2011 |
| Last Seen: | May 30, 2022 |
| OS(es) Affected: | Windows |
TROJ_ARTIEF.AEB is a malicious infection that has been associated with mass-mailed spam attacks. It is designed to exploit a zero-day security vulnerability in Adobe System's popular program Acrobat Reader 9, which is used to read files in the popular PDF format. Because PDF has long been regarded as a safe file format, malware attacks taking advance of the CVE 2010 3333 vulnerability in this program have been highly effective and have been a characteristic attack on the final quarter of 2011. Known aliases of TROJ_ARTIEF.AEB include Exploit:Win32/CVE-2010-3333, Trojan.Mdropper.C, and Exploit-CVE2010-3333 depending on your particular brand of anti-malware application. To protect your computer system, ESG security researchers recommend being extremely careful when opening unsolicited emails. TROJ_ARTIEF.AEB has been particularly associated with an email campaign that attempts to take advantage of the death of the North Korean dictator Kim Jong II.
General Details of TROJ_ARTIEF.AEB
TROJ_ARTIEF.AEB is a Trojan infection. This means that TROJ_ARTIEF.AEB cannot spread by itself, unlike worms or viruses. Rather, Trojans depend on other malware or on deceiving the victim in order to infect a computer system. Because of this characteristic, Trojans are named after the famed horse, Trojans such as TROJ_ARTIEF.AEB will pretend to be attractive but, like the soldiers inside the Trojan horse, will actually contain a malicious payload that can severely infect a computer system. The TROJ_ARTIEF.AEB in particular is not destructive in itself, but is designed to download and install other malware infections. Typically, TROJ_ARTIEF.AEB will cause the victim's computer to become infected with a Remote Access Trojan such as the Zeus Trojan. In this way, a criminal can ultimately take control of the victim's computer and use it for a variety of purposes. TROJ_ARTIEF.AEB is designed to affect 32-bit operating systems such as Windows XP running versions of Acrobat Reader prior to 9.4.
TROJ_ARTIEF.AEB and Kim Jong II
Whenever a political figure or celebrity dies, criminals will take advantage of the trending news in order to distribute their Trojans to an unsuspecting public. The email containing TROJ_ARTIEF.AEB will usually report that it contains information on Kim Jong II's death in a PDF file. Similar attacks were reported previously in 2011 after the deaths of Steve Jobs, Muammar Gaddaffi and Amy Winehouse. Because of this, ESG malware analysts strongly recommend that you receive your news from trusted media outlets rather than from unsolicited email attachments.
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