Currently ranked as 48th in the world of online malware, an exploit is malicious software that commands to ‘exploit’ any weaknesses (which can be a glitch, a bug or simply design vulnerability) in your computer system or program(s) to carry out some form of malicious intent, such as worms, viruses, Trojans or a denial-of-service attack.
It is essentially a misleading security application that performs fake system scans and displays numerous false infections. In reality, it does not clean spyware from your computer at all; it actually exposes you to more security threats. An exploit virus can access your system without your knowledge and is usually installed with viruses and Trojans. Exploits force phishing programs, adware or any other type of fraudulent software into your system which can grant remote access to hackers and allow them to modify files, steal personal information of even install other malicious software.
Security exploits can result from a combination of weak passwords, software bugs or software that has already been infected by a computer virus or worm. To prevent potential unauthorized access or compromised integrity by these security exploits, patches or software fixes are required.
Once an exploit is executed, it has the capability to replicate itself and infect other files and programs on your computer. Exploit can steal hard disk space and memory which either slows down or completely halts your computer. It also has the ability to hijack your screen, steal personal information, erase your hard drive, corrupt/delete data and spam your contacts to spread itself to others. It is usually received as an attachment via email, through infected links or websites.
There are various types of exploits, three of which are given below:
- Remote Exploit – This exploits the security vulnerability of your computer without ever having prior access to your system.
- Local exploit – This kind of exploit requires prior access to the vulnerable system and results in an increase in the privileges of the user account running the exploit.
- Zero-day exploit – This type of exploit is one that has not yet been discovered by the software’s creator.
As a precautionary measure, it is wise to keep regular backups of your data saved on your PC to prevent losing important data because of an attack that takes advantage of an exploit.
Removing Exploits From Your Computer
The best way to get rid of exploits is to use a reliable antivirus software.
Alternatively, you can also remove the HEUR:Exploit.Java.CVE-2012-0507.gen virus manually by following the steps given below:
Step 1 – Restart your computer and press F8 before windows launches; navigate to ‘Safe Mode with networking’ using your arrow keys and press enter
Step 2 – Stop all processes; Go to the Taskbar by pressing ALT+CTRL+DELETE and stop all running processes related to HEUR:Exploit.Java.CVE-2012-0507.gen
Step 3 – Click the Start button, type regedit in the search box and press enter; once the registry window opens up, search and delete all of the following registries related to HEUR:Exploit.Java.CVE-2012-0507.gen (One of the common exploit is the Heur Exploit, the following may not apply in all cases):
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\PAV
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run”thinkpoint”
- HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\WindowsNT\CurrentVersion\WInlogon ”Shell”=”%Documents and Settings%\[Username]\Application Data\Hotfix.exe”
The instructions given above can sometimes be tricky for inexperienced users who do not possess relative expert skills. We recommend using an antivirus software to complete virus removal tasks.
