SkilledMarketing
Threat Scorecard
EnigmaSoft Threat Scorecard
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.
EnigmaSoft Threat Scorecards display a variety of useful information, including:
Ranking: The ranking of a particular threat in EnigmaSoft’s Threat Database.
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.
Infected Computers: The number of confirmed and suspected cases of a particular threat detected on infected computers as reported by SpyHunter.
See also Threat Assessment Criteria.
| Threat Level: | 50 % (Medium) |
| Infected Computers: | 1 |
| First Seen: | January 25, 2019 |
| Last Seen: | July 5, 2022 |
| OS(es) Affected: | Windows |
SkilledMarketing is a browser hijacker application that is leveraged against Mac users. Many may not have even realized that such an application is being installed on their systems due to the underhanded tactics involved in its distribution. Such dubious applications are almost never downloaded by users intentionally. Instead, they hide their installation as a preselected choice in another application's installation process or place themselves inside a fake software installer/updater. This deceptive behavior justifies the classification of SkilledMarketing as a PUP (Potentially Unwanted Program).
Once established onto the Mac, SkilledMarketing will waste no time in taking control over the user's browser. All of the popular browsers can be affected - Chrome, Safari, Edge, etc. The PUP will modify selected browser settings to start generating artificial traffic towards a sponsored address, in most cases, that of a fake search engine. Users will then be unpleasantly surprised to see that their normal homepage now opens an unfamiliar website. Furthermore, any search queries conducted in the browser's URL field will be hijacked by the dubious engine. Fake engines cannot produce meaningful search results on their own and that is why they ultimately redirect the search to a legitimate one. SkilledMarketing redirects to Yahoo for the actual search results presented to the user. Keep in mind that the fake engine may have injected multiple thirty-party links into the search results that may not even meet the search criteria.
PUPs also are known for spying on the user's browsing activities. This application may access the entire browsing history, search history and clicked URLs. The obtained information will then be packaged and transmitted to a remote server under the control of the PUP's operators.
