virus in video???? Help!!!!!!!

[drewdini]

Hey, I downloaded a video for a friend of mine, and He was playing it
in both of his computers at home, and now his parents are pissed at me
for screwing up there computers. they claim that now one of the
computers can not connect to the internet, and the other one is gettin
drive letters mixed up, etc. I told them I would go and take a look,
but before I do, I just wanted to know for sure, can there be a virus
in a video? This was a .avi video, and it worked fine on m,y computer.
If it is not a virus, could it be some kind of spyware? Is it at all
possible to screw up 2 computers just by playing a video? Thanks a lot
for your help.

Drew

 

[Jim]

Hey, I downloaded a video for a friend of mine, and He was playing it
in both of his computers at home, and now his parents are pissed at me
for screwing up there computers. they claim that now one of the
computers can not connect to the internet, and the other one is gettin
drive letters mixed up, etc. I told them I would go and take a look,
but before I do, I just wanted to know for sure, can there be a virus
in a video? This was a .avi video, and it worked fine on m,y computer.
If it is not a virus, could it be some kind of spyware? Is it at all
possible to screw up 2 computers just by playing a video? Thanks a lot
for your help.

Drew

Yes, it is possible to imbed malware in almost anything.

Why didn't their anti-viral software catch the stuff?

Jim

 

[James Egan]

Yes, it is possible to imbed malware in almost anything.

Why didn't their anti-viral software catch the stuff?

You are correct that the avi file might have embedded malware but
running that malware is a different matter entirely and you would need
some other malware to do it. It is almost certain therefore that any
problem was not caused by malware embedded in the avi file.


Jim.

 

[drewdini]

If it is malware, and theit anti-virus did not catch it, how would be
the best way for me to remove it? Also, are thoes normaly sings of
malware?

Drew

 

[James Egan]

If it is malware, and theit anti-virus did not catch it, how would be
the best way for me to remove it? Also, are thoes normaly sings of
malware?

Drew

There have been a few threads recently about malware embedded in
container files. Read this thread if you're interested.
http://groups.google.co.uk/group/al...4826/5b186d1f02727dec?&hl=en#5b186d1f02727dec
or shorter link
http://tinyurl.com/pvhc8

Personally I wouldn't worry about it.


Jim.

 

[Eric Parker]

Hey, I downloaded a video for a friend of mine, and He was playing it
in both of his computers at home, and now his parents are pissed at me
for screwing up there computers. they claim that now one of the
computers can not connect to the internet, and the other one is gettin
drive letters mixed up, etc. I told them I would go and take a look,
but before I do, I just wanted to know for sure, can there be a virus
in a video? This was a .avi video, and it worked fine on m,y computer.
If it is not a virus, could it be some kind of spyware? Is it at all
possible to screw up 2 computers just by playing a video? Thanks a lot
for your help.

Drew

Did you install a codec to play it ?

I believe codecs are becoming a means of infection.

Eric

 

[drewdini]

I did not install any codecs. I just download the .avi, and I burned it
to a Cd , and gave it to him. And he played it on two computers, and
his parents are mega pissed at me for "breaking their computer".
The one computer will not connect to the internet, and the other one
will not start some aplications unless the CD with the video on it is
in the drive.
I am frustrated, cause I was just being nive downloading the video for
him, and now I am responsible for fixing to computers.
I greatly appreciate and thoughts and tips.

Drew

 

[David H. Lipman]

From: "Eric Parker" <[email protected]>


| Did you install a codec to play it ?
|
| I believe codecs are becoming a means of infection.
|
| Eric
|

That's correct Eric. Many web sites with the word "codec" in them puporting to be video
codec distributers are really ZLob Trojan installers !

 

[David H. Lipman]

From: <[email protected]>

| I did not install any codecs. I just download the .avi, and I burned it
| to a Cd , and gave it to him. And he played it on two computers, and
| his parents are mega pissed at me for "breaking their computer".
| The one computer will not connect to the internet, and the other one
| will not start some aplications unless the CD with the video on it is
| in the drive.
| I am frustrated, cause I was just being nive downloading the video for
| him, and now I am responsible for fixing to computers.
| I greatly appreciate and thoughts and tips.
|
| Drew

Personnally, I don't think its a case of malware.
Both symptoms are those of computer problem not really associoated with malware. Malware
does NOT re-arrange drive letter assignments.

You just learned a good leasson -- don't play on other's computers without a statement of
"no fault" if something happens. I think the problems they had were just blamed on you.

 

[edgewalker]

The symptoms you mention are more indicative of what happens when
people try to troubleshoot (or remove malware) themselves rather than
to ask for assistance.

If you still have the suspect file, you could submit it to scrutiny by uploading
it to virustotal or jotti. There is an outside chance that they had vulnerable
software you didn't, and that is why you weren't affected yet they were. I
really doubt it though.

[snipped URLs]

Personally I wouldn't worry about it.

Neither would I. Non-executable filetypes can only be a threat when some
companion software makes it executable. In the case of the "froggies" and
similar schemes, the companion is the malware you must avoid. In any other
cases the client accepting the data as input is the unwitting companion to the
exploit based crafted data malware. It is the presentation of the vulnerability
to the outside world that must be minimized or eliminated. Of course it really
doesn't hurt to have a scanner detect maliciously crafted data files that you
might be vulnerable to, but far better to fix the broken software.