File verdict·Decided by the MT AI Engine
Our call

Safe

Unsigned security-software-named EXE triggers only low-tier engines and direct-IP heuristic, matching AV-on-AV false positive with all tier-1 engines clean.

Trust score87High trust
MT AI confidence · 82%
AiDefend.exe
4.1 MB
dfb3d004af508f27f437ac62bdfb
Antivirus engines
3 of 76 flagged
Code signing
Unsigned
Age
First seen 2mo ago
MT AI Engine · our arbiter

The verdict, reasoned out.

Not a rules engine. The MT AI Engine reads every signal we collected, weighs them against history, and commits to an answer.

82%Confidence
High
Reasoning

The detection profile shows minimal flags from non-tier1 engines with generic labels, a hallmark of heuristic false positives on security tools. Filename 'AiDefend.exe' and analysis flags confirm security software resemblance. Behavioural signals like direct Cloudflare IP contact trigger a heuristic but align with common app patterns, lacking offensive MITRE or sandbox malice. Unsigned status and rarity add minor risk, but clean tier1 consensus and no corroborating intel outweigh them.

Key signals · 5

Each signal cites a concrete token from the evidence the arbiter saw — engine name, MITRE technique, signer string, or an exact count.

  1. 3/71 engines malicious, tier1Malicious=0: alibabacloud/Trojan:Win/Lakaboy.LY (low_trust), Elastic/malicious (tier2), huorong/Ransom/Filecoder.c (tier2)

  2. filenameAnalysis.looksLikeSecuritySoftware=true + triggeredHeuristics.filename_security_software fired

  3. tier1ReportedClean=17/17, no tier1FamilyConsensus.family

  4. behaviour.contactedIps=["162.159.36.2"] triggered MalwareTips.Synth.DirectIpC2 but no hasMaliciousSandboxVerdict

  5. file.tags=["detect-debug-environment","peexe","64bits"], prevalence.classification="rare_new"

Points in its favour
  • 17/17 tier1 engines clean
  • No tier1 malicious or family consensus
  • No offensive MITRE techniques (offensiveCount=0)
  • No malicious sandbox verdict
  • No malicious dropped children or contacted hosts
Points against
  • Unsigned executable (signing.signed=false)
  • rare_new prevalence (1 submission, age 7 days)
  • Direct IP contact without DNS (162.159.36.2)
  • detect-debug-environment tag + T1497 virtualization technique
  • No historical signer stats or similarHashes RAG
What to do

This file is safe based on our AI analysis—likely a legitimate security tool false-positived by heuristics. Download from official sources and scan with updated AV for caution.

Runtime behaviour

What this file did when executed

This file was detonated in 1 sandbox and its runtime behaviour was observed.

MITRE ATT&CK
4

Adversary techniques mapped to the MITRE ATT&CK framework.

T1040T1071T1082T1497
Spawned processes
4
$(unnamed)
C:\Windows\system32\services.exe
$(unnamed)
"C:\Users\<USER>\Desktop\AiDefender EA.exe"
$(unnamed)
C:\Windows\Explorer.EXE
$(unnamed)
"C:\Users\user\Desktop\AiDefender EA.exe"
Network activity
1
IP addresses1
  • 162.159.36.2
Filesystem & mutexes
8
Files written2
  • C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\CustomDestinations\XIW2UKQXV7QMYZNK7MZW.temp
  • C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\CustomDestinations\438facd9d0c4a815.customDestinations-ms
Files deleted3
  • C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\Recent\CustomDestinations\XIW2UKQXV7QMYZNK7MZW.temp
  • C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Local\Packages\Microsoft.XboxGamingOverlay_8wekyb3d8bbwe\LocalCache\KnownGameList.bin
  • C:\Users\<USER>\AppData\Local\Microsoft\GameDVR\KnownGameList.update
Mutexes created3
  • Global\AiDefender_DHC_SingleInstance_v1
  • \Sessions\1\BaseNamedObjects\Global\AiDefender_DHC_SingleInstance_v1
  • \Sessions\1\BaseNamedObjects\DBWinMutex
Dropped payload

Files this sample writes at runtime

This file drops 1 child at runtime. None are currently flagged malicious in our cache.

1 unseen
  • b76875c50ef704dbbf7f6317d5Never scanned
    never seen before
No researcher-database hits
External threat-intel sources were not collected for this scan.
Signature matches

YARA + heuristic rules that fired

One or more medium-severity heuristic rules matched. Not definitive, but the patterns match known malware behaviour.

1 synthesis
MITRE ATT&CK profile
C2× 1
MalwareTips synthesis rules
Our heuristics on VT data + sandbox behaviour
  • DirectIpC2medium

    Sample contacted 1 external IP address(es) and zero domains. Benign software virtually always uses DNS; no-DNS direct-IP C2 is a strong malware indicator because it bypasses reputation systems and dodges domain-based blocklists.

    Evidence
    162.159.36.2
Antivirus engine breakdown

3 detections across 76 engines

3 malicious0 suspicious73 clean
Tier-117 engines
0flag
Top commercial AVs (low FP rate)
Tier-238 engines
2flag
Mainstream engines with mixed FP rates
Low-trust21 engines
1flag
Heuristic / generic-AI engines (high FP rate)
alibabacloud
malicious
Trojan:Win/Lakaboy.LY
Elastic
malicious
malicious (high confidence)
huorong
malicious
Ransom/Filecoder.c
Hash dfb3d004af50… cross-referenced against 76 AV engines via our AV network.
PE forensics

Section entropy & packers

Section-level entropy and packer detection from the PE header. Nothing suspicious here — entropy is within the normal range for unpacked code.

Unpacked
Section entropy6 sections
.text
6.32
.rdata
5.61
.data
5.03
.pdata
6.21
.rsrc
6.06
.reloc
5.46
0.0Packed threshold 7.28.0
Prevalence

How often this file shows up in the wild

Barely seen in the wild and first surfaced recently. This is the footprint of targeted malware the AV industry hasn't signatured yet — extra scrutiny is warranted.

Rare & new
Unique uploaders
1
Very few people have ever uploaded this — rare.
Total submissions
1
Includes repeat uploads by the same source.
First seen by VT
2mo ago
Apr 16, 2026
Prevalence quadrant
here
Rare · New
Targeted malware lives here
Common · New
Just-released software
Rare · Old
Niche or internal tooling
Common · Old
Trusted legitimate binaries
File identity

Forensic fingerprint

File biography
First seen (VT)
4/16/2026, 3:37:52 PM
First seen (MalwareBazaar)
Last analysis (VT)
4/23/2026, 3:39:22 PM
Scanned here
4/24/2026, 2:07:28 AM
File name
AiDefend.exe
Size
4.09 MB
MIME type
(unknown)
Detected type
Win32 EXE
SHA-256
dfb3d004af508f27f414a64b94b4a45b880f3e6461f982282a988037ac62bdfb
MD5
6209a05a5d2c0d80cb0d5b54698f90b1
SHA-1
6c0081c1d7d3e1f166ba32f181647b359e77d806
PE imphash
8922c919d340197b9456afe1ca5a9b3c
First seen (VT)
4/16/2026, 3:37:52 PM
Last analysis (VT)
4/23/2026, 3:39:22 PM
First scan (MalwareTips)
4/21/2026, 7:47:32 AM
Last scan (MalwareTips)
4/24/2026, 2:07:28 AM
Behavior tags
detect-debug-environmentpeexe64bits
Community classification

Reviews & malware reports(0)

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