Phrase Professor - 25% Detection Rate *
Did you just find a download or a file on your computer that has been digitally signed by Phrase Professor? Some of the security products refers to the detected files as Generic.DE5 and Gen:Variant.Adware.Vitruvian.1. The detection rate for the Phrase Professor files collected here is 25%. Please read on for more details.
You will typically notice Phrase Professor when clicking to run the file. The publisher name is then displayed as the "Verified publisher" in the UAC dialog as the screenshot shows:
You can also view the Phrase Professor certificate with the following steps:
- Open up Windows Explorer and locate the Phrase Professor file
- Right-click on the file and select Properties
- Click the Digital Signatures tab
- Click the View Certificate button
Here is a screenshot of a file signed by Phrase Professor:
As you can see in the screengrab above, Windows states that "This digital signature is OK". This means that the file has been published by Phrase Professor and that no one has tampered with the file.
If you click the View Certificate button shown in the screenshot above, you can see all the details of the certificate, such as when it was issued, who issued the certificate, how long it is valid, etc. You can also examine the address for Phrase Professor, such as the street name, city and country.
GlobalSign CodeSigning CA - G2 has issued the Phrase Professor certificates. You can also see the details of the issuer by clicking the View Certificate button shown in the screenshot above.
Phrase Professor Files
These are the Phrase Professor files I've collected, thanks to the FreeFixer users.
| Detection Ratio | File Name |
|---|---|
| 14/57 | ppfd_vt_1_10_0_21.sys |
| 8/57 | ppfd_vw_1_10_0_21.sys |
| 29/57 | ppsvc.exe |
| 11/57 | ppfd_vw_1_10_0_24.sys |
| 6/57 | PhraseProfessorAutoUpdateClient.exe |
| 15/57 | PhraseProfessorAutoUpdateClient.exe |
| 4/57 | PhraseProfessorAutoUpdateClient.exe |
| 12/56 | ppfd_vt_1_10_0_24.sys |
| 5/57 | ppfd_vw_1_10_0_22.sys |
| 30/57 | ppsvc.exe |
| 23/57 | ppfd_vt_1_10_0_21.sys |
Scanner and Detection Names
Here's the detection names for the Phrase Professor files. I have grouped the detection names by each scanner engine. Thanks to VirusTotal for the scan results.
| Scanner | Detection Names |
|---|---|
| ALYac | Gen:Variant.Adware.Vitruvian.1 |
| AVG | Generic.DE5 |
| AVware | NetFilter, InfoAtoms (fs), Vitruvian, Trojan.Win32.Generic!BT |
| Ad-Aware | Gen:Variant.Adware.Vitruvian.1 |
| Agnitum | Riskware.Agent!, Riskware.NetTool! |
| AhnLab-V3 | PUP/Win32.Vitruvian |
| Antiy-AVL | GrayWare[AdWare:not-a-virus]/Win32.Vitruvian, RiskWare[NetTool]/Win64.NetFilter.l |
| Arcabit | PUP.Adware.PhraseProfessor.edj, Trojan.Adware.Vitruvian.1, PUP.Adware.PhraseProfessor.edi |
| Avast | Win32:Vitruvian-B [PUP] |
| Avira | ADWARE/Adware.Gen7 |
| Baidu-International | Hacktool.Win32.NetFilter.A, Hacktool.Win64.NetFilter.A, Adware.Win32.Vitruvian.F, Adware.MSIL.Vitruvian.A, Hacktool.Win64.NetFilter.l |
| BitDefender | Gen:Variant.Adware.Vitruvian.1 |
| Bkav | W32.HfsAdware.51CE, W64.HfsAdware.51CE |
| Comodo | TrojWare.Win32.Amtar.amu, ApplicUnwnt |
| Cyren | W32/Adware.UBUZ-8871 |
| DrWeb | Adware.Plugin.1181, Adware.Plugin.1136 |
| ESET-NOD32 | a variant of Win32/NetFilter.A potentially unsafe, a variant of Win64/NetFilter.A potentially unsafe, a variant of Win32/Adware.Vitruvian.F, a variant of MSIL/Adware.Vitruvian.A |
| Emsisoft | Gen:Variant.Adware.Vitruvian.1 (B) |
| F-Secure | Gen:Variant.Adware.Vitruvian |
| Fortinet | Riskware/NetFilter, Adware/Vitruvian, Adware/NetFilter, Riskware/Vitruvian |
| GData | Gen:Variant.Adware.Vitruvian.1, Win64.Application.Agent.K4LPP4 |
| K7AntiVirus | Adware ( 004b8a1b1 ), Unwanted-Program ( 004b8fe91 ) |
| K7GW | Adware ( 004b8a1b1 ), Unwanted-Program ( 004b8fe91 ) |
| Kaspersky | not-a-virus:AdWare.Win32.Vitruvian.o, not-a-virus:NetTool.Win64.NetFilter.l |
| Malwarebytes | PUP.Optional.PhraseProfessor, PUP.Optional.PhraseProfessor.A |
| McAfee | Artemis!FE0D9BCDA174, Artemis!F610C1A86B14, Artemis!596500F9FEFB, Artemis!7B5784DE7B90, Artemis!B158DBF202C4, Artemis!38B5E276F255, Artemis!D242FC810427 |
| McAfee-GW-Edition | Artemis, Artemis!PUP, BehavesLike.Win64.PUP.qh |
| MicroWorld-eScan | Gen:Variant.Adware.Vitruvian.1 |
| NANO-Antivirus | Riskware.Win64.Plugin.dvuzfw |
| Panda | Generic Suspicious |
| Qihoo-360 | HEUR/QVM10.1.Malware.Gen, HEUR/QVM03.0.Malware.Gen, Win32/Virus.NetTool.82f |
| SUPERAntiSpyware | PUP.NetFilter/Variant |
| Sophos | Generic PUA PE (PUA), Generic PUA AJ (PUA), Generic PUA FG (PUA) |
| Symantec | Trojan.Gen.2 |
| Tencent | Msil.Adware.Vitruvian.Sxyt, Msil.Adware.Vitruvian.Aisd, Msil.Adware.Vitruvian.Tbih, Win32.Risk.Adware.Lmbd |
| TotalDefense | Heur/TrojanHorse.ZCIK!suspicious |
| TrendMicro | TROJ_GEN.R047C0EHL15, TROJ_GEN.R047C0OI715, TROJ_GEN.R00XC0OI815 |
| VIPRE | NetFilter, InfoAtoms (fs), Vitruvian, Trojan.Win32.Generic!BT |
| Zillya | Adware.Vitruvian.Win32.101 |
* How the Detection Percentage is Calculated
The detection percentage is based on the fact that I've collected 626 scan reports for the Phrase Professor files. 157 of these scan results came up with some sort of detection. You can review the full details of the scan results by examining the files listed above.
Analysis Details
The analysis is based on certificates with the following serial numbers:
- 11212eccbe8a08cd220dfdb8df22d0081744