Category: virus trojan

Polymorphic w32/Scribble and what that is:

Paul

Having read the Graham Cluley’s Blog about “Court halted by fast-spreading virus“. I wanted to talk about this one because of the need to let people know about this little Virus and what you see when you are infected.

This virus modifies the Windows Host file so it redirects the host to a loopback address. It also uses the I-frame Injection into HTM, PHP or ASP file extensions. W32/Scribble-a, also known as Virus.Win32.Virut.ce, PE_VIRUX.A, or Virus:Win32/Virut.BM allows a users to control the machine through IRC.
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Although originally misidentified at the time of the initial infection on 4th February as the Conficker worm, the infection was ultimately declared by officials to be “W32/Virut.n” (which Sophos has detected as the W32/Scribble-A virus since 3rd February).

[Via Graham Cluley’s Blog]

Sopho’s Has a removal tool for this to help disinfect a system that is infected. I also want to remind people about the need for backups and the need for Anti-virus Software, including a free firewall, will not protect you 100% of the time but will help you identify and possibliy remove a virus, Trojan, and worm from you system. Just like the seriousness of the Conflicker Worm, this too should be taken seriously due to how it is easily spreading. And with Valentines Day just a few days and some Other Holidays that will be coming up, you can bet this virus will start infecting even more systems. You should also backup your data weekly if not monthly. I’d suggest doing a backup on a Early Sunday Morning before 4am so the system won’t be used.  I’ll update you if there is anything else about this virus on my blog later.  Just wanted to let people know to be watching for this little virus on and offline!!

Phishing sites pop up for IRS!

Paul

Well, this just came to light with The Spywareguide blog. I’ve seen some activity about Where’s my refund lately and I thought I tell you how to make sure you’re on the right site. If you’re expecting a refund check the OFFICIAL SITE. The Official Site is http://www.irs.gov and nothing else. If you want to find out about some of the most common Phishing attempts check out the Phishing advice from the IRS.

[ad#ad2-right]The Spyware Guide blog talks about sites that looks to be IRS but are actually just phishing for information.  Some of the ones they talk about are:

gicrisis.org/data/refundtax/SearchTAXERR.php

irs-2009.com/refund/refunds.html

collectrefund-irs.com/refund/refunds.html

cimaonline.ca/application/Internal/Revenue/Service/pas.php?certegy_vm=trueportlet_change_1_actionOverrideFchaseonlineFchangeFprocessDetails_windowLabel_portlet_process_pageLabel_page_process

jklabs.cz/phpayv2/admin/import/.secure/www.irs.gov/get-refund/refunds.php?Where_is_my_refund&Get_Refund

Although this list will most likely change this is just starting for people who filed there income tax. Some things to Remember are:

You can generally access information about your refund 72 hours after IRS acknowledges receipt of your e-filed return, or three to four weeks after mailing a paper return

Via IRS.GOV

So if you’ve filed your Taxes it should be getting to you in 3 to 4 weeks although as you get closer to the March 15, 2009 Deadline it will take longer so you should consider filling early to prevent from having to wait to long for your return.  If you follow the rule that any email claiming  to be from IRS is not true and shouldn’t click or install any software.  You should however tell the IRS as quickly possible about this attempt to get sensitive information.  If you want to protect your  system from virus or even think you have a virus, trojan, or Malware please check my Malware Resource for further information on removing it!!

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Uncovering a Virus/Trojan

Paul

Getting done with the first part really got my juices flowing. I was shopping looking and thinking about this next article. I came up to only one option turning this into a 3-5 length post due to all the content that I will have.  So where did we leave off?  Oh that is right figuring out if you have a virus/Trojan.  The instant I made a post about this 12 hours later someone make a comment and here is what he said:
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Rene Van Belzen

I can’t wait to read part two of this article. I always wondered how you’d know you’re infected if a virus don’t want to be detected and no virus definitions are yet available, because the virus is so new.

Now the truth is anytime a Virus does something it usually leaves a footprint somewhere and somehow.   Even the hardest working hacker can’t plan for all possibilities and that is where we begin.   I have been helping people for a while with viruses and know that no matter how hard the virus tries to hide you can usually find it relatively quickly and easily do to virus check here are the ways I’ve done to figure out if they may or may not have a virus/Trojan.

Now if this is a client’s computer and you don’t want to be rude to the client, there are a few indications of user error and installing a virus.   This is relatively simple, all you do is do a quick inventory of all the start menu programs.  You’d want to look for any P2P file sharing program, If they have Firefox Installed, and if they are using Window Mail and not Thunderbird.   You see 80% to 90% of virus downloaded are installed by the End USER.  They either downloading a game and installing a virus with [ad#ad2-left]a game, or not protecting themselves by using Internet Explorer or Using Windows Mail.  That is usually my first step due to the fact, I’ve got to be diplomatic about finding out about security ways.  Also make sure they are up to date on there Window updates, unless they are using a really old system then you will have to work even harder.  Also you can suspect a virus if the client is talking about having problem with a program recently although this isn’t always true it sometimes is the case due to the fact hackers don’t have a big chance to test these viruses/Trojans out before they set them into the wild.  So there are always going to be unplanned problems associated with them.

After the first initial search of desktop, you should really know the likely hood of a possible virus getting on the system and later we will talk about counter measures to prevent virus attacks in the future.   There are a few places a hacker likes to put commands.   Hackers love to put in the Registry to run a program every time Windows starts.  It usually in:

  • HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run

  • HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\RunServices\

Usually 50% to 70% of virus like to make sure the program to runs.  This is a flaw in Windows because hackers can edit this without much effort but there isn’t many places a hacker can go to make sure a program is set to run when you boot.   So this is also a benifit to finding those little programs.

Now just like the Regisitry, Hackers also like to put programs in a few areas on the hard drive.   This is also kinda hard to hide because most of the time these are consider important to the system but if you know what to look for you can pretty much figure out if it is truelly a system file.  These areas of the hard drive are:

  • C:\WINDOWS\System32[ad#ad2-right]

  • C:\WINDOWS

  • %programfiles%\common files\microsoft shared

  • %windir%\temp\

These are just a few but if you look hard enough it can be found most of the time.   Most of the time I use the registry to tell me where these programs are so I can do a further check of the program.  Some of this is not needed with some of the programs that I recommend but this is for those who want to be a through job and make sure the virus is gone.

On my next post we will talk about some good tools for the trade to help get rid of a virus/Trojan.  This little step here is used to  better help identify a virus and also give you chance to google each name on the list of registry and the hard drive  to see if you can identify the virus.