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Published Apr 02, 2012 | Updated Dec 04, 2017

Win32/Gamarue

Detected by Microsoft Defender Antivirus

Aliases: No associated aliases

Summary

Microsoft Defender Antivirus detects and removes this threat.

This malware family can give a malicious hacker control of your PC. The malware can also steal your sensitive information and change your PC security settings.

We've seen them installed by exploit kits and other malware. They can also be attached to spam emails.

Some variants of this family are worms and can spread by infecting removable drives (such as USB flash drives or portable hard disks). If you plug those drives into another PC, the worm will infect that PC as well. See Worm:Win32/Gamarue for more information.

On November 29, 2017, law enforcement agencies, in cooperation with Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit and with help from Windows Defender researchers, disrupted the Gamarue (also known as Andromeda). For more information:

Microsoft teams up with law enforcement and other partners to disrupt Gamarue (Andromeda)

Use the following free Microsoft software to detect and remove this threat:

You should also run a full scan. A full scan might find hidden malware.

Protect your sensitive information

This threat tries to steal your sensitive and confidential information. If you think your information has been stolen, see:

You should change your passwords after you've removed this threat:

Additional remediation instructions for this threat

This threat might make lasting changes to your PC's settings that won't be restored when it's cleaned. The following links can help change these settings back to what you want:

Disable Autorun

This threat tries to use the Windows Autorun function to spread via removable drives, like USB flash drives. You can disable Autorun to prevent worms from spreading:

Scan removable drives

Remember to scan any removable or portable drives. If you have Microsoft security software, see this topic on our software help page:

Use cloud protection

Use cloud protection to help guard against the latest malware threats. It’s turned on by default for Microsoft Security Essentials and Microsoft Defender Antivirus for Windows 10. 

Go to Settings > Update & security > Windows Defender > Windows Defender Security Center > Virus & threat protection and make sure that your Cloud-based Protection settings is turned On.

Get more help

You can also visit our advanced troubleshooting page or search the Microsoft virus and malware community for more help.

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