Major Virus

[Anon_F]

Seems my main pc has been hit by a major virus!
The screen comes up with a box stating the pc has been locked by the police and to get it unlocked you have to pay!! Only way is to go to a newsagent and prepay? Info was basic and no official contact details as would be if genuine!

Anyone had this before?
And i dont know how it go through my AV & Firewall etc??

 

[V_R]

Yep seen and heard about it a few times, both in RL and on other forums/websites, depending on the variant it can be a bitch to remove. Personally I'd just clean install and not even bother trying.

What AV?

 

[Anon_F]

clean install don
mse running
but after something beefier now?

 

[Anon_F]

back on main pc now.
just loading boinc & ff.
and then going to max out with av & firewall.
got mse installed, any others to use?

cheers in advance!

 

[V_R]

MSE is fine, but it can't stop you going to sites you shouldn't .

 

[Anon_F]

MSE is fine, but it can't stop you going to sites you shouldn't .

Trouble is apart from loading a pc mag dvd nothing else as been looked at thats dodgy! No new sites or anything offering me blue pills, porn or free money!
All a bit of a mystery but i do suspect the magazine disc at the moment?
Cheers for your advice V_R much appreciated.

 

[TriplexDread]

Have you ran AV on disc?

 

[floppybootstomp]

Malwarebytes if a good malware and trojan detector/remover and runs well in tandem with MSE.

They're the only two I use (which is not neccessarily a recommendation, lol)

 

[Anon_F]

Did a clean install & now have MSE & Malwarebytes on PC.
Still don't know the cause but will be very careful what i look at in future.
Lost a lot of work related stuff but can re-load them later.
A few programs i cant get back but will see what i can do.

 

[floppybootstomp]

The three most common places to pick up nasties are pRon sites, warez (piracy software) sites and e-mail. Emails that arrive 'bearing gifts' can be either spam or sent from known friends who have unwittingly been infected themselves and have sent out infected emails without their knowledge.

Those three sources are far from exclusive though.

 

[muckshifter]

"malware" can quite easily bypass your "antivirus" program ... blaster worm is a good example, then we found out about Firewalls.

you can be "infected" via ...
email
open network shares
browsing of compromised web sites
exploitation of various Microsoft vulnerabilities. (Both Code Red and Nimda were hugely successful exploiting well known and long solved vulnerabilities in the Microsoft products)
and via back doors left behind by worms.

at one time all we needed to worry about was where we got that floppy disk from ... now we have them "fixing" our systems via the phone. ( I had another MS expert call me today)

have a look at this site, it has a great program you can download ... now tell me, which button did you press? It's a reputable site, but damned if I'll click on any button.

.... getting infected is rather easy these days, just make sure you have a good doctor.

 

[EvanDavis]

It's a reputable site, but damned if I'll click on any button.

And it sites that have all these multiple buttons that say download that cause the most crap. Really annoying when you have to look at a page for half an hour to figure out which is the download button

 

[V_R]

Could even be a java exploit for example? Is your java up to date? There was a update b the last week.


What I do is have MSE with windows firewall, and MAB, and I run eset online scanner and trend micro housecall now and again for a second opinion. That will cover you as best u can. Other than running sophos anti root kit and all sorts of other stuff of other there isn't much else u can do other than being careful of what u click on etc.

 

[EvanDavis]

I had to call up Microsoft the other day to activate my Windows 7. They connected remotely and ran some or other program on my laptop. ESET online just flagged that program as been a threat. LOL made me laugh

 

[Ian]

Could even be a java exploit for example? Is your java up to date? There was a update b the last week.

Was wondering this myself as it looks like it was a critical vulnerability that could easily do something like this.

Feckit, I'd install "Secunia PSI" (link) if you haven't got it already. I seem to remember you have it, but thought I'd mention it in case anyone else is in the same boat. It will make sure all your 3rd party apps (that are often vulnerable, i.e. Flash, Adobe Acrobat, Java) are up to date.

 

[muckshifter]

Java, along with Adobe, were, IMHO, the most diabolical excuse for a systems program ever to hit the computer world ... it's taken them forever to finally get their act together, it's not perfect, but it is an improvement.

You can now access the Java Control Panel via Windows' Control Panel ... Pay very close attention to the install procedure, for some really stupid reason Oracle, the new owners of Sun, seen it fit to bundle the Ask toolbar in the install procedure. FFS, how irresponsible is that?

Automatic Update Settings
Change the Java update settings through the Java Control panel.
Windows XP: Click Start > Settings > Control Panel
Windows 7 and Vista: Click Start > Control Panel

1. Type Java in the Search Control Panel located in the upper right corner.
2. Launch the Java Control Panel by double-clicking on the Java icon. The Java Control Panel appears.
3. Click the Update tab to access the settings.
4. To enable Java Update to automatically check for updates, select the Check for Updates Automatically check box.
5. To disable Java Update, deselect the Check for Updates Automatically check box. (a very silly idea)

http://www.java.com/en/download/help/java_update.xml#sched

Oh, and make sure you don't have any 'old' versions installed, uninstall anything before ver 7 ... another point, auto update sometimes doesn't auto update, check it often and/or go get Secunia and leave it installed.

Despite all the safety measures one can take, you can still be caught by some nastie or other. It's not ALL doom and gloom, the coffee is nice here.