Hermotet.exe Virus ⛏️ (Coin Miner Trojan) Removal

Written by Robert Bailey
Hermotet.exe process belongs to a malicious application that can accurately be defined as a coin miner trojan virus. That malware type utilizes your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your personal computer roughly unfunctional as a result of high CPU usage.
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What is Hermotet.exe process?

Hermotet.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus

As I have actually pointed out previously, Hermotet.exe is a coin miner virus. The names of the executive file may be different, but the consequences are usually the same. Considering that coin miners focus on cryptocurrency mining, they use all available hardware capacity of your personal computer to run this operation. This malware doesn’t care about the fact that you may need to make use of your PC for other tasks – it will consistently take over 80% of your CPU power.

Hermotet.exe Windows Process

Hermotet.exe – Extremely high CPU/GPU use

Besides CPU utilization, some of the coin miners also use GPU power for their tasks. In that case, you will likely struggle also to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is usually utilized on 100%. It is not as crucial as processor for system work, so Hermotet.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and use all of it. It sometimes can cause unhappy effects.

Shortly about cryptocurrency mining

Cryptocurrency mining term means the activity of calculating the transaction block hash. That is a basic part of anything based on the blockchain technology. Since this operation takes a lot of calculations, a very strong desktop is required. Exactly, the graphic card is better for this purpose, because they have more cores available. Cryptocurrency mining farms usually consist of dozens of graphic cards to complete their task efficiently. Such systems are not usable for “normal” purposes, like gaming or web browsing. Crooks who make profit via this coin miner use someones’ hardware instead, even if they are used for the regular activity.2

List of the typical coin miner symptoms

  • Microsoft Defender is stopped;
  • CPU and GPU is loaded at 80-90% exactly after the system start
  • Cooling fans are running at high speed and create a lot of noise
  • A single process in Task Manager consumes all CPU and GPU power
  • How dangerous is the Hermotet.exe miner?

    Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system

    First off, Hermotet.exe malware makes your system overloaded. It is unable to run your applications now, because all CPU power is consumed by a malware. That malware does not care for your needs, all it focuses on is generating income on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until web browser is open, you will likely experience incredibly sluggish performance. Pages can open for years, any kind of logins will likely take about a minute – just a horror story for a person that does a job online.

    Hermotet.exe Technical Summary.

    File Name Hermotet.exe
    Type Trojan Coin Miner
    Detection Name Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner
    Distribution Method Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc.
    Similar behavior Agsservice.exe, Adobecollabsync.exe, Igcctray.exe
    Removal Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Hermotet.exe removal.

    “Visible” harm is not a solitary unpleasant thing coin miners do to your personal computer. Hermotet.exe coin miner also deals damage to your OS. To perform all malevolent functions successfully, it ruins the protection features of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware halts it to avoid recognition. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a ton of new entries – they are brought in by this trojan miner to connect your system to a malicious mining network. All these adjustments shall be thrown back to the initial state in the process of system recovery.

    Hardware effects of coin miner activity

    Besides making your PC slow, running at peak power for long times may trigger damage to your machine as well as increase electricity expenses. Hardware elements are created to easily deal with high load, but they are good with it only when they are in a good shape.

    Tiny and well-protected CPU cooling system is hard to broke. Meanwhile, GPUs have large and easy-to-access fans, which can be easily broke if touched while working, for example, by the user much before the virus injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the very high load caused by Hermotet.exe malware can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. GPUs are also tend to have very fast wearing when utilized for cryptocurrency mining. It is likely a bad situation when your GPU’s performance plunges 20-30% just after 1-2 weeks of being used in such a way.

    How did I get Hermotet.exe coin miner virus?

    Coin miners are spread through different ways, but their main sources are malicious banners and programs from dubious sources

    Coin miners are one of the most common malicious programs through “severe” viruses. Adware frequently serves as a carrier for Hermotet.exe malware injection: it shows you the banners, which have a link to malware downloading. Yes, this abstract “malware” can belong to any type – an additional adware, spyware, rogue or backdoor. However, the statistics say that approximately 30% of all viruses spread with the malicious banners are coin miners – and Hermotet.exe is right among them.

    Unwanted banners adware

    The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet

    One more way you could get this thing on your PC is by downloading it from the suspicious site as a part of a program. Users that spread hacked variants of popular programs (which do not need the license key) have small chances to make money. Therefore, there is a very big temptation to add in malware to the final package of the hacked app and receive a coin for each installation. Prior to criticizing these people for hacking and also malware distribution, ask yourself – is it alright to avoid purchasing the program in such a way? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 one time than to pay a much greater figure for antivirus program and new parts for your desktop.

    How to remove the Hermotet.exe miner from my PC?

    The best way to get rid of this coin miner virus is to use anti-malware software

    Getting rid of such a virus needs the use of special software. Appropriate anti-malware program should have high capability at scanning and be lightweight – in order to create no problems with usage also on weak PCs. Additionally, it is better to have on-run security in your security tool – to halt the virus even before it launches. Microsoft Defender lacks these elements for various factors. That’s why I’d advise you to use a third-party anti-malware program for that objective. GridinSoft Anti-Malware is a perfect choice that fits all of the discussed characteristics.4

    Before the malware removal, it is important to reboot your operating system into Safe Mode with Networking. Since Hermotet.exe miner takes a lot of CPU power, it is required to stop it before launching the security program. Otherwise, your scan will last for years, even though the GridinSoft program is pretty lightweight.

    Booting the PC into Safe Mode with Networking

    Press the Start button, then choose Power, and click on Reboot while holding the Shift key on the keyboard.

    Boot into Windows Safe Mode

    Windows will reboot into recovery mode. In that mode, choose Troubleshoot→ Startup Settings→ Safe Mode with Networking. Press the corresponding button on your keyboard to choose that option.

    windows safe mode boot option with command prompt

    When your computer is in Safe Mode, all third-party software, just like the majority of non-crucial system components, are not launched with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the system without dealing with high processor usage of the coin miner.

    Remove Hermotet.exe coin miner virus with GridinSoft Anti-Malware

    Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware. You can use this anti-malware program for free during its 6-day trial period. In that term, all functions are available, and it takes no payments to remove malware from your system.

    GridinSoft Anti-Malware free trial

    After activating your free trial, start Full scan. It may last up to 10 minutes. You may use the PC as usual.

    Scanning in GridinSoft Anti-Malware

    When the scan is finished, press the Clean Now button to remove all detected elements from your system. This procedure takes less than a minute.

    GridinSoft Anti-Malware after the scan process

    Now, you are good to go. Reboot your PC into a normal Windows mode and use just as there was nothing malicious.

    Remove Hermotet.exe Virus ⛏️ Trojan Coin Miner

    Name: Hermotet.exe

    Description: The Hermotet.exe is a Trojan Coin Miner that uses the infected computer’s sources to mine electronic money without your authorization. This Hermotet.exe will create your CPU to go for very warm temperatures for prolonged periods of time, which could reduce the life of the CPU.

    Operating System: Windows

    Application Category: Trojan

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    References

    1. Read about why Monero and DarkCoin are so popular amongst cybercriminals.
    2. Detailed explanation of how does cryptomining work.
    3. About unwanted effects for GPUs in the process of cryptomining.
    4. Our review on GridinSoft Anti-Malware.

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    About the author

    Robert Bailey

    I'm Robert Bailey, a passionate Security Engineer with a deep fascination for all things related to malware, reverse engineering, and white hat ethical hacking.

    As a white hat hacker, I firmly believe in the power of ethical hacking to bolster security measures. By identifying vulnerabilities and providing solutions, I contribute to the proactive defense of digital infrastructures.

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