J
Jeff T
Does MSE protect against rootkit viruses?
No, I don't but my wife did. She's got MSE installed and so do I. She had aPeter Foldes said:No. Why do you ask?? Do you have a rootkit infection by any chance
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Peter
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From: "Jeff T said:Does MSE protect against rootkit viruses?
From: "Tim Meddick said:Just because all "rootkits" are "Trojans", doesn't mean that all "Trojans" are
"rootkits" !!
And by a "rootkit" - I mean any piece of malicious software that utilises, in
particular, a method of stealth that takes advantage of the Windows API, by interception
and alteration of it's output, to avoid detection and therefore removal by any
Anti-Virus measures that are sent against it... The fact that persistent "rootkit"
malware is hidden from the Window's API, and therefore invisible to other process
monitoring software such as Windows Task Manager, makes them difficult to detect and
remove.
Microsoft's "RootKit Revealer" utility is a place to start if you believe you may have
malware that uses "rootkits"...
Download RootkitRevealer.exe :
http://live.sysinternals.com/RootkitRevealer.exe
More info :
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rootkit#Installation_and_cloaking
David said:From: "Tim Meddick" <[email protected]>
snip
Gmer, Avast's ASWMBR (which is based on Gmer) and Kaspersky's TDSKiller are suggested
because they won't just reveal their presence but can be used to remove them.
Rootkits are ever evolving and one needs an anti rootkit utility that also eveloves.
Sysinternals RootKit Revealer is not one of them. Even Ad's Root Repeal hasn't been
update for newer threats.
There is no such thing as a "rootkit virus".
Rootkits are trojans and Rootkits do NOT self replicate.
From: "BillW50 said:Oh man! I can't believe nobody challenged you on this! I also can't believe somebody
like you are trying to pull the wool over people's eyes.
Rootkit - Wikipedia
https://secure.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/en/wiki/Rootkit
I am NOT pulling the "wool over people's eyes", I state a fact.
RootKits are not viruses. They are trojans and do not self replicate. They aren't
viruses that prepend, append or cavity inject malicious code into other files who may in
turn infect and inject malicious code into other files. They do not use network protocols
like Internet worms to spread from computer to computer over a LAN or WAN or use
constructs like AutoPlay/AutoRun to spread from removeable media such as in the case of
autorun worms.
RootKits are trojans because they require assistance to spread. Most often this is
through Social Engineering or the vulnerability/exlpoitation vector.
The overarching concept of malicious software is malware. Too often it is misconstrued
that the overarching concept of malicious software is that of viruses and is totally
incorrect.
The reality of the malicious software theatre is that there are few viruses Today. The
vast majority of malware are trojans. Malware can be broken down to three major classes.
Viruses, trojans and exploit code. The viruses that we see Today are Virut, Parite and
Ramnit. There is the possibility that a trojan can be infected with a virus such as
Parite like any other "legitimate" file such as in the case of a Zapchast. This means
there is a double payload. That of the trojan and that of the virus. There is also the
possibility that a legitimate file may become "trojanized". That is a given malware may
prepend, append or cavity inject malicious code into a legitimate file. However, unlike a
virus, the file that has become infected can not in turn infect another file and spread
autonomously.
There is nothing in that Wiki that negates what I have written.
David said:I am NOT pulling the "wool over people's eyes", I state a fact.
RootKits are not viruses. They are trojans and do not self
replicate. They aren't viruses that prepend, append or cavity inject
malicious code into other files who may in turn infect and inject
malicious code into other files. They do not use network protocols
like Internet worms to spread from computer to computer over a LAN or
WAN or use constructs like AutoPlay/AutoRun to spread from removeable
media such as in the case of autorun worms.
RootKits are trojans because they require assistance to spread. Most
often this is through Social Engineering or the
vulnerability/exlpoitation vector.
The overarching concept of malicious software is malware. Too often
it is misconstrued that the overarching concept of malicious software
is that of viruses and is totally incorrect.
The reality of the malicious software theatre is that there are few
viruses Today. The vast majority of malware are trojans. Malware
can be broken down to three major classes. Viruses, trojans and
exploit code. The viruses that we see Today are Virut, Parite and
Ramnit. There is the possibility that a trojan can be infected with
a virus such as Parite like any other "legitimate" file such as in
the case of a Zapchast. This means there is a double payload. That
of the trojan and that of the virus. There is also the possibility
that a legitimate file may become "trojanized". That is a given
malware may prepend, append or cavity inject malicious code into a
legitimate file. However, unlike a virus, the file that has become
infected can not in turn infect another file and spread autonomously.
There is nothing in that Wiki that negates what I have written.
Char said:Good luck here. FWIW, I recently had a very similar discussion with
BillW50 in another group. After several exchanges, I don't think I
made any appreciable progress and had to abandon ship.
From: "BillW50 said:In
According to Christopher Kruegel (an Associate Professor at University of California)
appears to disagree with you. As "Rootkits differ from viruses and worms in that they do
not usually self-replicate." What you are saying is they do not self-replicate. While
Professor Kruegel is saying that isn't always the case.
Challenge 2: General Windows Security
http://www.cs.ucsb.edu/~chris/teaching/cs290/projects/proj2.html
Trojan Rootkit Tmphider for example can self-replicate.
Delete Trojan Rootkit Tmphider Permanently (Removal Guide) | onlinepcsavior
http://www.onlinepcsavior.com/delete-trojan-rootkit-tmphider-permanently-removal-guide/
That part is true. But most non-experts lump viruses, worms, Trojan horses, adware,
rootkits and many other nasty infections as all of the same thing. Which isn't
surprising, since regardless of the type, each of them offer their own unique security
threat, and they should be avoided at all costs.
But on the flipside, rootkits can carry payloads with them. Which could contain viruses,
worms, Trojan horses, and/or adware. Thus some rootkits can also be viruses. And some
viruses can be rootkits.
And I am not one to be picky about the misuse of technical terms. As the general public
does so all of the time. As communication is a method of giving one's thoughts to
somebody else. And when somebody misuses technical terms, I still know what they mean
anyway. So being picky is just trying to be argumentative.
If those who wishes to be picky anyway, I ask why just fix one and not everything? For
example the phrases the sun rises and the sun sets is technically incorrect. As the sun
isn't moving at all, but the Earth is instead.
Sure there is. As not all rootkits are Trojans. Wikipedia made this very clear under the
subtitle "Installation and cloaking".
"Rootkits employ a variety of techniques to gain control of a system; the type of
rootkit influences the choice of attack vector. The most common technique leverages
security vulnerabilities to achieve surreptitious privilege escalation. Another approach
is to use a Trojan..."
David said:That is incorrect. Installation and cloaking does not indicate the
ability of autonomous spreading. The cloaking aspect aspect is
purely the concept of self preservation through the ability to hide
within the OS is such a way as to mask its presence.
The www.onlinepcsavior.com article is incorrect. The name "Rootkit
Tmphider " means it is a trojan and not a virus or it may have been
name W32/Tmphider or W64/Tmphider indicating it is a virus using
Win32 or Win64 bit virus coding. Instead it specifically is called a
trojan. The site www.onlinepcsavior.com is just a GoDaddy site that
was created just a little over 1 year ago and is not the library or
encyclopedia of an anti virus vendor who has actually assayed the
malware. Many of these so called removal guides have false
information because they usually have an agenda. Often they are used
by affiliates to get you to download their software when their
instructions fail to help remove the malware. In the case of
www.onlinepcsavior.com its agenda is to sell you a support contract.
Such a Google search also brings up...
http://www.pcthreat.com/parasitebyid-10041en.html whose
characteristics list does not state that it self replicates. However
it too is a GoDaddy site and it too has an agenda because it is an
Enigma affiliate and wants you to download SpyHunter.
The problem with Google Searches is one can obtain misinformation as
well as true information as there is nothing to negate faux results.
If one is to do research on malware one must search through anti
malware vendor encyclopedias or libraries to get real information on
the malware. However even that can be limited because there are so
many different kinds of malware that vendors just can't do a writeup
on every one of them. Often they will be limited to "hot button
subject" malware or malware of a particular family. Just because it
has a downloader aspect doesn't make it a virus it just means the
trojan will donload either components of this malware or other tye of
malware and even if that other typoe of malware may be a virus that
doesn't make the downloader a virus.
As for Christopher Kruegel writing "Rootkits differ from viruses and
worms in that they do not usually self-replicate."
He is hedging his bets by using a qualifying word "usually" but that
doesn't mean by the use of this word that Rootkits are viruses. For
all intents and puposes, rootkits do not employ viral capabilities.
Once a rootkit is installed on a host, that rootkit stays on that
host and will not spread to another computer.
I am very glad you can use Google to research the subject matter but
you also must understand the underlying concepts and constructs. I
have spent more than 20 years doing just that, studying the
underlying concepts and constructs of malware.
At the end of the day, because it's not just the technocrats that use
computers, but all the common folk - that, by the very nature of the way
language develops, the meaning of the word "Virus" is always going to mean
an unwanted (unauthorised) file that, on execution, manages to disrupt the
normal working of our PC - in short, what we would call ; "malware" as an
"umbrella" term to describe all such harmful code.