{
  "family": "vundo",
  "sample_count": 70,
  "category": "trojan",
  "description": "Trojan:Win32/Vundo (also known as Virtumonde) is a notorious and highly persistent trojan family primarily known for delivering aggressive adware, fake anti-virus (scareware) programs, and other malicious payloads. Historically prevalent in the mid-to-late 2000s, Vundo is distributed through spam campaigns, drive-by downloads, and exploit kits. What makes Vundo particularly dangerous is its sophisticated persistence mechanisms; it typically injects its code directly into critical Windows processes (such as explorer.exe or winlogon.exe) and heavily modifies the Windows Registry. It disables built-in security features, Windows Update, and anti-virus software to protect itself. Victims often experience severe system degradation, an onslaught of unclosable pop-up advertisements, and warnings from rogue security software demanding payment.",
  "cta": "Published by the SystemHelpdesk team.",
  "aliases": [],
  "enrichment_level": "high",
  "faq": [],
  "faq_count": 0,
  "mitre_attack": [
    "T1055",
    "T1562.001",
    "T1112",
    "T1547.001",
    "T1489"
  ],
  "cisa_advisory": null,
  "last_updated": "2026-06-09",
  "mitre_attack_detail": [
    {
      "id": "T1055",
      "name": "Process Injection",
      "tactic": "Defense Evasion"
    },
    {
      "id": "T1562.001",
      "name": "Impair Defenses: Disable or Modify Tools",
      "tactic": "Defense Evasion"
    },
    {
      "id": "T1547.001",
      "name": "Boot or Logon Autostart Execution: Registry Run Keys / Startup Folder",
      "tactic": "Persistence"
    },
    {
      "id": "T1112",
      "name": "Modify Registry",
      "tactic": "Defense Evasion"
    },
    {
      "id": "T1489",
      "name": "Service Stop",
      "tactic": "Impact"
    }
  ],
  "containment_steps": [
    "Boot the infected system into Safe Mode to prevent Vundo's drivers and injected DLLs from loading into memory.",
    "Utilize specialized, standalone malware removal tools (like a bootable AV rescue disk) as Vundo actively blocks installed AV software.",
    "Manually inspect and repair the Windows Registry, specifically looking for malicious Browser Helper Objects (BHOs) and Run keys.",
    "Verify and re-enable Windows Update and the Windows Security Center after the malware is removed."
  ],
  "what_to_avoid": [
    "Do not attempt to pay the ransom or purchase the 'full version' of the fake anti-virus software Vundo promotes.",
    "Do not trust the results of installed anti-virus software if the system is infected with Vundo, as the malware likely tampered with it."
  ],
  "target_industries": [
    "Global / Opportunistic"
  ],
  "motivation": "Opportunistic",
  "threat_actors": [
    "Unknown / Cybercriminal"
  ],
  "target_geographies": [
    "Global"
  ]
}