Home Malware Programs Trojans Swifti

Swifti

Posted: February 12, 2015

Threat Metric

Ranking: 4,784
Threat Level: 9/10
Infected PCs: 143,402
First Seen: February 12, 2015
Last Seen: October 15, 2023
OS(es) Affected: Windows

Swifti, also aliased Swifi, is a Flash-based Trojan that exploits software vulnerabilities through your browser. Swifti may install botnet Trojans and other threats, such as advertisement clickers, onto the affected PC. Currently associated with the Angler Exploit Kit and similar techniques, Swifti can be avoided by using safe Web-browsing security protocols. If you've established a possible case of Swifti attacking your PC, using traditional anti-malware solutions to remove Swifti's payload is the recommendation of malware experts.

The Trojans Ushered Swiftly into Your PC by Swifti

While malware experts have had prior encounters with the Angler EK and other exploit kit-based threats, new developments in old threats often arise. Swifti was identified early in 2015, as one of the latest appendages of Angler Exploit Kits. It uses a zero-day (as of this article's date) Adobe Flash vulnerability, meaning that Swifti can't be blocked by patching Flash to its latest version. However, Swifti only affects specific versions of Internet Explorer: IE 6 to 8 and IE 10. Chrome, Firefox and other, non-IE browsers aren't compatible with the Swifti's attack.

As with other variants of exploit kits, PC users most typically will encounter Swifti while browsing a threatening website or a hacked one. Swifti is suspected to target United States, Australian, and European IP addresses, with a particular emphasis on the US. Victims using vulnerable browsers are targets of the Swifti's attack, which, theoretically, can install most kinds of threatening software.

For now, malware experts have confirmed Swifti's distribution of Bedep, a specialized Trojan downloader, and also a botnet tool. Bedep's payloads often include advertisement clicker Trojans, which can simulate advertisement 'clicks' or modify traffic in ways so as to generate advertisement revenue for the people behind it.

Forcing a Flash Attack to Slow Down

Until Adobe provides appropriate updates to Flash, Swifti can target even PCs who have fully patched their software. However, using an alternative browser or using IE with the addition of proper security software should block Swifti's attack from triggering. There are no symptoms linked to a Swifti attack or the threats related to it, although malware experts recommend monitoring your memory processes and overall system resources, as a general, precautionary routine. Swifti doesn't install itself on your PC during its attack, and you shouldn't need to remove Swifti, itself, but anti-malware scans should be used to remove Swifti's payload and related threats.

If appropriate, any website administrators also should be notified of the site compromise that allows Swifti to launch. Similar attacks often exploit invisible Web elements that are undetectable without proper security tools and may not trigger consistently for all of a site's traffic. Good site maintenance, such as updating the server software regularly and using secure passwords, can block the hacking attempts that could insert Swifti (or other instances of an Angler Exploit Kit) in the first place.

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