What’s KillerAnalyticsService.exe (Killer Analytics Service)? Is it safe or a virus?

While browsing our Windows Task Manager on our test PC here at our cybersecurity lab in Austin, Texas, one of our SpyShelter team members found a mysterious "killer" executable called KillerAnalyticsService.exe.

If you found this web page, then you probably found this "killer" process running in your own Task Manager, and you're curious what exactly is so "killer" about it. Is it going to "kill" your PC with malware, or is this something that's safe to have running?

Well... fortunately Rivet Networks (now part of Intel) makes this .exe and it's completely safe. You're going to need this .exe if you want to have a "killer" network connection, and here's why...

Rivet Networks was acquired by Intel in 2020 for their Wi-fi 6 technology. So, if you're running Rivet software on your PC, then you should consider that this software is controlled by Intel.

KillerAnalyticsService.exe is a process related to Killer Networking and is part of the driver package for a network interface controller. Although the .exe does have the name "analytics" in it, we couldn't find any information that confirms this executable is only responsible for analytics, so we don't recommend disabling it.

You may be wondering, why is KillerAnalyticsService.exe signed by Microsoft? Microsoft reviews and signs some hardware-related Windows Services and Drivers, to make sure they don't cause any security issues or instability with the Windows OS. So, this .exe was most likely reviewed by Microsoft at some point.

Want to have a "killer" Wifi or Ethernet connection? Then don't disable this Intel-made process on your PC. As long as it's signed by Microsoft then it should be safe.

Researched by Jon @ SpyShelter Labs