XP Protection 2014

Posted: September 8, 2014

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:	8/10
Infected PCs:	26

First Seen:	September 11, 2014
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

Another member of a rapidly-growing branch of fake software, XP Protection 2014 uses fraudulent security warnings, fake threat alerts and inaccurate 'scans' of your hard drive to promote the purchase of its software. Besides being incapable of providing real equivalents of its security features, XP Protection 2014 also is a likely source of outright attacks against your PC, which may include efforts to disable legitimate security solutions. Safe measures against XP Protection 2014 should include using real anti-malware products to remove XP Protection 2014 from your PC, in addition to any other, related threats.

2014's Rendition of Yesteryear's Software Misleading Tactics

Although most major families of fake anti-virus products keep to a consistent set of primary functions, they also are noted for changing the names of their 'products' routinely. XP Protection 2014 is the byproduct of just such a brand name modification, in an effort to make XP Protection 2014 seem like a new, reputable product, rather than what XP Protection 2014 is – a clone of past variants of scamware. Some of the related threats from XP Protection 2014's same branch, FakeRean, include Antivirus 2008 Pro, Antivirus XP 2008, Windows Antivirus 2008, Vista Antivirus 2008, PC Clean Pro, Antivirus Pro 2009, Rogue.Vista Antivirus 2008, AntiSpy Safeguard, ThinkPoint, Spyware Protection 2010, Internet Antivirus 2011, Palladium Pro, XP Anti-Virus 2011, CleanThis, XP Security 2012, XP Home Security 2012 and AntiVirus PRO 2015.

XP Protection 2014 is a rogue anti-virus program, and as with most threats of that category, tries to swindle its victims into paying a fake software-registering fee. To accomplish this, XP Protection 2014 displays inaccurate warning messages – frequently regarding high-level threats, including backdoor Trojans or keylogger spyware – along with system scans that always detect large amounts of nonexistent infections.

Despite the risks of XP Protection 2014 providing its victims with fake system information, malware researchers are even more concerned with other, likely security problems associated with this scamware. These include:

XP Protection 2014 may change your browser's behavior to force it to visit compromised sites, which may include sites displaying inaccurate warning messages. Your browser also may block other websites arbitrarily.
XP Protection 2014 may modify the Windows Registry to disable various built-in security features, most noticeably, the Windows Update.
Other programs may close automatically, and some Windows services may be uninstalled automatically.

How to Take Care of the PC Protection that Goes Too Far

As with the other scamware that preceded it, XP Protection 2014's attacks are meant to force its victims to buy a registry key to allow XP Protection 2014 to 'protect' your PC further from all detected threats. However, because XP Protection 2014 is not a legitimate security program and actively harms real ones, purchasing XP Protection 2014's key never is advisable (although using free keys to fake XP Protection 2014's registration should not endanger your PC). Deleting XP Protection 2014 always is urged by malware researchers, who find doing so most easily accomplished through a combination of anti-malware utilities and standard safety protocols, like restarting with Safe Mode.

Because XP Protection 2014 and its many, cloned relatives still are recently-identified, their distribution strategies have yet to be confirmed. Past members of XP Protection 2014's family have had a reliance on Web-browsing exploits, including corrupted website scripts, that can be blocked outright or detected by suitable PC security software.

XP Protection 2014

Threat Metric

2014's Rendition of Yesteryear's Software Misleading Tactics

How to Take Care of the PC Protection that Goes Too Far

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