Microsoftsecurityapp.exe process belongs to a malicious program that can accurately be defined as a coin miner virus. That malware type uses your PC components to mine cryptocurrencies, primarily – Monero or DarkCoin1. It makes your system almost nonfunctional as a result of high CPU usage.
What is Microsoftsecurityapp.exe process?
Microsoftsecurityapp.exe is a malicious process created by coin miner virus
Microsoftsecurityapp.exe – Really high CPU/GPU use
Besides CPU usage, some of the coin miners also use GPU power for their operations. In that instance, you will likely struggle also to see the mouse arrow moving – GPU is often used on 100%. It is not as important as processor for system work, so Microsoftsecurityapp.exe coin miner viruses do not waste time on trifles and utilize it all. It often may cause unhappy consequences.
Shortly about cryptocurrency mining
List of the typical coin miner symptoms
How dangerous is the Microsoftsecurityapp.exe miner?
Coin miners does not deal damage to your files. However, they make a lot of unpleasant things with the whole system
Initially, Microsoftsecurityapp.exe virus makes your system overloaded. It is not able to run your applications anymore, because all processor power is used by a virus. That malware does not care for your necessities, all it pays attention to is making money on you. Even if you are patient, and you waited until web browser is open, you will likely suffer from exceptionally slow efficiency. Pages will open up for years, any type of logins will take about a minute – just a nightmare for a person who works online.
Microsoftsecurityapp.exe Technical Summary.
| File Name | Microsoftsecurityapp.exe |
| Type | Trojan Coin Miner |
| Detection Name | Trojan:Win32/CoinMiner |
| Distribution Method | Software bundling, Intrusive advertisement, redirects to shady sites etc. |
| Similar behavior | Intelunisonclient.exe, Lightingservice.exe, Dtsapo3service.exe |
| Removal | Download and install GridinSoft Anti-Malware for automatic Microsoftsecurityapp.exe removal. |
“Visible” damage is not a single unpleasant activity coin miners do to your system. Microsoftsecurityapp.exe coin miner additionally deals damage to your operating system. To execute all malicious operations successfully, it ruins the security features of your system. You will likely see your Microsoft Defender disabled – malware halts it to prevent recognition. If you check the HOSTS file, you will likely see a load of new notes – they are brought in by this coin miner to connect your computer to a malicious cryptomining network. All these adjustments shall be reverted to the initial state in the process of PC recovery.
Hardware effects of coin miner activity
Besides making your computer slow, running at peak level for long times can cause damage to your machine as well as raise electricity bills. Hardware components are created to easily deal with high load, but they can do so only in case when they are in a good shape.
Small and well-protected processor fan is hard to damage. Meanwhile, graphic cards have large and easy-to-access rotors, which can be easily cracked if touched while spinning, for example, by the user much earlier before the malware injection. Malfunctioning cooling system, together with the really high load caused by Microsoftsecurityapp.exe can easily lead to graphic processing unit failure3. GPUs are also tend to have very fast wearing when utilized for cryptocurrency mining. It is surely a bad situation when the performance of your video card decreases on 20-30% only after 1-2 weeks of being exploited in such a way.
How did I get Microsoftsecurityapp.exe coin miner virus?
Coin miners are spread through different ways, but their main sources are malicious banners and programs from dubious sources
The example of malicious banners you can see in the Internet
An additional way you could get this thing on your PC is by downloading it from the suspicious website as a part of a program. Users that spread hacked versions of well-known programs (which do not need the license key) have small chances to make money. Thus, there is a huge temptation to add malware to the final package of the hacked app and get a coin for each installation. Prior to criticizing these people for hacking and also malware distribution, ask yourself – is it OK to avoid paying for the program in this manner? It is more affordable to pay $20-$30 one time than to pay a much greater sum for antivirus software and new parts for your PC.
How to remove the Microsoftsecurityapp.exe miner from my PC?
The best way to get rid of this coin miner virus is to use anti-malware software
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.
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.
When your computer is in Safe Mode, all third-party software, along with the majority of non-crucial system components, are not launched with the system start. That gives you the ability to clean the PC without dealing with high CPU usage of the coin miner.
References
- Read about why Monero and DarkCoin are so popular amongst cybercriminals.
- About unwanted effects for GPUs in the process of cryptomining.
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