Vista Defender 2013 Description

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Vista Defender 2013 belongs to a family of malware that includes such fake security programs such Win 7 Antivirus 2013 and XP Internet Security 2013. There is no difference between Vista Defender 2013 and versions of this bogus security application released in 2010, 2011, and 2012 (for example, Vista Defender 2012). All of these belong to a large family of fake security programs that can detect the victim’s operating system and change accordingly in order to carry out a typical rogue security program scam. Vista Defender 2013 should be considered as a dangerous malware infection and Vista Defender 2013 should be removed with the aid of a reliable security application.

Vista Defender 2013 and its clones are mainly known because they can adapt to different operating systems. Vista Defender 2013 is a fake security program that will only attack computers with the Windows Vista operating system (Vista Defender 2013 will rarely appear in computers with other versions of Windows, but these cases are very rare). If the victim’s computer is running Windows XP or Windows 7, then the victim’s computer will be attacked by the two corresponding variants of Vista Defender 2013, XP Defender 2013 or Win 7 Defender 2013. This happens because part of Vista Defender 2013’s installation process involved detecting the victim’s operating system and downloading its corresponding rogue security program.

Like most rogue security programs, Vista Defender 2013 will attempt to scare the victim into purchasing a fake anti-virus program. It does this by causing the victim’s computer to behave erratically and by blocking access to the Internet and to the victim’s files. Vista Defender 2013’s main symptom is a torrent of system alerts, error messages and pop-up notifications from the Task Bar. All of these will appear constantly, prompting the victim to download a ‘full version’ of Vista Defender 2013 in order to remove a nonexistent virus infection from the victim’s computer. ESG security researchers strongly advise against following any advice in Vista Defender 2013’s error messages, due to the fact that Vista Defender 2013 has no way of defending your computer from malware and is actually a malware infection itself.

Type: Rogue Anti-Virus Program

How Can You Detect Vista Defender 2013?

Vista Defender 2013 Technical Report

As new Vista Defender 2013 details are reported by our customers and findings from our Threat Research Center, we will update this section.

Fake message for Vista Defender 2013:

The following fake error message(s) appears for Vista Defender 2013:

System hacked!
Unknown programs is scanning your system registry right now! Identity theft detected!

Vista Defender 2013 Alert
System hacked!
Unknown programs is scanning your system registry right now! Identity theft detected!

Security breach!
Beware! Spyware infection was found. Your system security is at risk. Private information may get stolen, and your PC activity may get monitored. Click for an anti-spyware scan.

Vista Defender 2013 Alert
Internet Connection alert!
Suspicious network activity detected!
Malware infection is possible!

Malware Intrusion
Sensitive areas of your system were found to be under attack. Spy software attack or virus infection possible. Prevent further damage or your private data will get stolen. Run an anti-spyware scan now. Click here to start.

‘How Vista Defender 2013 Infects Your Computer’ Video

Vista Defender 2013 Removal Details

Vista Defender 2013 has typically the following processes in memory:

• %CommonAppData%\pcdfdata\[RANDOM CHARACTERS].exe

Vista Defender 2013 creates the following files in the system:

• %CommonStartMenu%\Programs\Vista Defender\Remove Vista Defender.lnk
• %CommonAppData%\pcdfdata\app.ico
• %CommonAppData%\pcdfdata\config.bin
• %CommonStartMenu%\Programs\Vista Defender\Vista Defender.lnk
• %CommonAppData%\pcdfdata\uninst.ico
• %CommonAppData%\pcdfdata\defs.bin
• %CommonStartMenu%\Programs\Vista Defender\Vista Defender Help and Support.lnk
• %CommonAppData%\pcdfdata\support.ico
• %CommonAppData%\pcdfdata\vl.bin
• %AllUsersProfile%\Desktop\Vista Defender.lnk

Vista Defender 2013 creates the following registry entries:

• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run “pcdfsvc” = “%CommonAppData%\pcdfdata\[RANDOM CHARACTERS].exe /min
• HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT\.exe “(Default)” = “[RANDOM CHARACTERS]”
• HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\pcdfdata
• HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Classes\.exe\shell\open\command “(Default)” = “”%CommonAppData%\pcdfdata\[RANDOM CHARACTERS].exe” /ex “%1″ %*”

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