Trojan.Naid

Posted: June 18, 2012

Threat Metric

The Threat Meter is a malware assessment that SpywareRemove.com's research team is able to give every identifiable malware threat. Our Threat Meter includes several criteria based off of specific malware threats to value their severity, reach and volume. The Threat Meter is able to give you a numerical breakdown of each threat's initial Threat Level, Detection Count, Volume Count, Trend Path and Percentage Impact. The overall ranking of each threat in the Threat Meter is a basic breakdown of how all threats are ranked within our own extensive malware database. The scoring for each specific malware threat can be easily compared to other emerging threats to draw a contrast in its particular severity. The Threat Meter is a useful tool in the endeavor of seeking a solution to remove a threat or pursue additional analytical research for all types of computer users.

The following fields listed on the Threat Meter containing a specific value, are explained in detail below:

Threat Level: The threat level scale goes from 1 to 10 where 10 is the highest level of severity and 1 is the lowest level of severity. Each specific level is relative to the threat's consistent assessed behaviors collected from SpyHunter's risk assessment model.

Detection Count: The collective number of confirmed and suspected cases of a particular malware threat. The detection count is calculated from infected PCs retrieved from diagnostic and scan log reports generated by SpyHunter.

Volume Count: Similar to the detection count, the Volume Count is specifically based on the number of confirmed and suspected threats infecting systems on a daily basis. High volume counts usually represent a popular threat but may or may not have infected a large number of systems. High detection count threats could lay dormant and have a low volume count. Criteria for Volume Count is relative to a daily detection count.

Trend Path: The Trend Path, utilizing an up arrow, down arrow or equal symbol, represents the level of recent movement of a particular threat. Up arrows represent an increase, down arrows represent a decline and the equal symbol represent no change to a threat's recent movement.

% Impact (Last 7 Days): This demonstrates a 7-day period change in the frequency of a malware threat infecting PCs. The percentage impact correlates directly to the current Trend Path to determine a rise or decline in the percentage.

Threat Level:	9/10
Infected PCs:	12

First Seen:	June 18, 2012
Last Seen:	April 19, 2023
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

Naid is a Trojan that uses backdoor attacks to grant third parties access to your PC. Variants of Naid may include slightly different behaviors, such as utilizing Windows services, but Naid always includes attempts to make remote contact with a server that third parties may use to issue instructions or transfer data. Because Naid derives from the work of an organized group with tendencies towards releasing regular updates, malware researchers would advise any PC users concerned about this Trojan to keep their anti-malware solutions completely up-to-date.

Naid: an Old Security Problem that Still Retains Relevance

Naid is one of many of the threat 'products' in use by Axiom, a Chinese, and potentially state-sponsored group of organized hackers. Campaigns with Naid may trace to 2010 at the earliest, but Axiom's history of re-releasing new updates and variants of its Trojans has resulted in a number of Naid variants since its first emergence. Attacks involving Naid may originate from other Trojans that install Naid, with these secondary threats providing a minimum of features meant to allow Naid, with its broad backdoor capabilities, to have access to a compromised system.

Naid drops files in separate, default Windows folders, and makes Registry changes allowing its different components to launch automatically. Port 443 is used to create a backdoor vulnerability that allows Axiom to communicate with Naid, with this communication including issuing instructions on new attacks, uploading collected files or downloading other threats that Naid may install. Other, potentially noticeable symptoms of a Naid infection may include:

Changes to Registry-based Windows security settings (disabling them to allow the backdoor communication to occur).
Internet Explorer's homepage redirected to another Web page. The new homepage may install threats in some kinds of attacks.

Protecting Yourself from an Old Trojan that Still Bites

Although even a single year is virtually ancient for a single Trojan, Naid (and other Trojans by Axiom) is well-maintained and often is seen in new versions with additional features meant to block its detection. Because Axiom focuses on infiltrating government, NPO and corporate systems, casual PC users have little to fear from this threat – although the same is not true of other, more generously-distributed backdoor Trojans than Naid. For relevant organizations, appropriate e-mail and browser security are the most important aspects of preventing Naid's installation.

Naid may just be one of the several threats on a compromised PC, and its presence is easily a critical breach of privacy and security. Anti-malware tools with updated databases should be able to detect and delete Naid, which includes multiple components named to conceal themselves from casual identification. At this time, malware researchers estimate that more organizations than are verifiable so far are likely to be compromised by Naid or related threats, as a direct result of Axiom's sophisticated and individualized attack campaigns.

Technical Details

File System Modifications

Tutorials: If you wish to learn how to remove malware components manually, you can read the tutorials on how to find malware, kill unwanted processes, remove malicious DLLs and delete other harmful files. Always be sure to back up your PC before making any changes.

The following files were created in the system:

%UserProfile%\AppMgmt.dll

File name: %UserProfile%\AppMgmt.dll
File type: Dynamic link library
Mime Type: unknown/dll
Group: Malware file

%Windir%\Temp\uid.ax

File name: %Windir%\Temp\uid.ax
Mime Type: unknown/ax
Group: Malware file