Virut and other File infectors - Throwing in the Towel?

I actually wanted to blog about this last week, but didn't find the time yet...
In the last couple of weeks, I noticed a HUGE increase of Virut present on computers. As a matter of fact, 30% of the infected computers I analyzed were infected with Virut. This is bad, really bad... :-(

Virut is a Polymorphic File Infector that infects .EXE and .SCR files. It opens a Backdoor by connecting to a predefined IRC Server and waits for commands from the remote attacker - for example to download/run more malware on the compromised computer. Emails may be harvested as well.
This latest variant may also search for htm, html, asp and php files on the drives and modifies them by inserting an iframe that points to a malicious website. So you can already imagine what may happen if the owner is a webdesigner and uploads the infected webpages.
An excellent write up on this latest variant (and previous one) can also be found here (by Nicolas Brulez): http://securitylabs.websense.com/content/Blogs/3300.aspx

Disinfection of the infected webpages should be easy - it's just a matter of deleting the iframe script in it.
The disinfection of the infected exe and scr files is something else...
Since Virut infects legitimate files, the files may not be deleted, but disinfected instead. And that's where the problems start...
Virut was known to be a buggy Virus in the past and it appears that this hasn't changed yet. We've seen this with other File infectors as well: To Junk Or Not To Junk.

And because of that, Virut may misinfect a proportion of executable files > result > corrupted file.
The same applies for other File infectors such as Sality.

If I guide someone with Virut (or any other File Infector) present and their Antivirus cannot properly disinfect it, then I recommend a format and reinstall.
And even though an Antivirus is able to disinfect the files, in a lot of cases, many files will be corrupted anyway > result > many programs won't work > loads of errors > corrupted Windows + there's still no guarantee that the Virus is really gone.
So why bother to clean this if a format and reinstall is the fastest and especially the safest solution?

And that's why I am blogging about this in the first place, especially since Virut is a very common infection nowadays. It's a pity to see that so many people are struggling with it and whatever they try, nothing helps. Then they ask for support via the forums and in a lot of cases, the one who is helping/guiding won't give up either and posts a new set of instructions to deal with this one.
Unfortunately another failure as result, so again, new instructions are posted... and this may go on and on...sometimes for weeks....
Is this responsible?
I'm not saying it fails everytime, but from what I have seen so far and especially if you're helping someone else with this infection... don't guarantee them a "clean" and errorfree computer afterwards .

In anyway, that's how I see it. Imho, dealing with such infections is a waste of time and that's why I prefer the fastest and safest solution - which is a format and reinstall.
Many people may see this as "giving up", but I see this different.
After all, I think it would be irresponsible to let the malware "stew" (download/spread/run more malware) for another couple of days/weeks if you already know it's a lost case.

Happy Dance - Blog 1 year old!

I started with this blog exactly 1 year ago. I actually didn't expect anything from this since I'm not a writer and don't have enough inspiration either to update my blog every (other) day.
The main goal of this blog was to post some tutorials and thoughts for the "average" user I was helping on forums and newsgroups - so I could link to my blogposts instead of reposting it again and again.
I was already happy with only a few blogposts and actually didn't really plan to update it anyway - only once in a while.
Maybe I could have updated my blog more often with latest Security News etc, but decided not to do so.
However, after a month or two, I saw that some people started to follow this blog and linked to it as well. That was a pleasant surprise.
And that's why I'm still updating this blog with thoughts (mainly rants), tutorials and other (stupid) stuff.

Anyway, thanks for the comments and feedback I have received so far - I've learned a lot from this and I'm still learning every day!

Thank you readers!

IX Web Hosting - Reliable?

Someone contacted me recently about the wdmaud.sys / sysaudio.sys - Win32:Daonol infection. This because his site was injected with the iFrame Javascript "Yahoo! Counter starts here". People who visit the compromised site will get infected with Win32:Daonol.
Even though he removed all injected code, it came back all the time. Also, he couldn't understand how his site(s) got compromised in the first place.
Until he told me what his webhosting service was..... IX Web Hosting.

A quick google search explained a lot....

There's even a blog called "IX Web Hosting Warning" to warn people for this webhosting company.
Quote from their About page:

"IX Web Hosting the incompetant cheap web hosting company was hacked in May of this year, and hackers managed to “seed” the servers, which are now injecting 1000’s of innocent paying customers websites, on a weekly basis. It has gotten so bad, and happened so frequently that even the backups are infected.

This has been going on now for almost 8 months!!… Yes that is correct, 8 months, and IX web hosting has still not fixed this massive security issue.
The worst part of this ordeal, is the fact that IX web hosting knows, and has openly admitted to certain people ( myself being one) that they have a massive issue, they still blame the innocent customers that it is their fault."

In anyway, that may also explain why so many people got infected with Win32:Daonol lately:
http://ixwebhostwarning.wordpress.com/2008/12/24/ix-web-hosting-and-the-yahoo-counter-script-injection/
http://ixwebhostwarning.wordpress.com/2009/01/11/is-your-site-infected-by-the-yahoo-counter-or-htaccess/

"Thousands of IX web Hosting customers are infected with this code, and they do not even know it! The web Page looks normal, but this can be very dangerous, your website will eventually drop from ALL the mayor search engines, and your domain will be flagged as “Dangerous Malware” by all the search engines."

Lesson learned: Avoid IX Web Hosting - Avoid sites being hosted with IX Web Hosting, because you may get infected.

Miekiemoes rules ?? Yeah right...

This is about the Searchengine Hijack I blogged about a couple of months ago. Files responsible for this hijack are sysaudio.sys or wdmaud.sys, present in the system32 folder - detected by most scanners as Win32:Daonol.
Someone notified me yesterday about a version of Win32:Daonol which is a bit different than other versions.
The malware author(s) decided to add "Miekiemoes rules" under file description in one of its versions.
Again, another proof why not to believe what malware tells you :P

This is what you get when you hover your mouse over the malicious wdmaud.sys:



I only have above screenshot. The person who uploaded this screenshot for me already deleted the wdmaud.sys, so no sample available. In anyway, thanks for the screenshot.

Sample is welcome (only above version).
Edit - Sample received - Thank you blogreaders :)

Settings won't save in Firefox

This is another common problem I see in forums lately. This especially since more and more malware targets firefox as well.
An example we see in forums lately is "Yoog Search". This is a searchengine Hijacker - comes with a variant of AdRotator/IconAds Adware.
The Firefox startpage + searchengine / Searchsettings get hijacked and even though the malware (responsible for changing startpage+searchengine) is gone/deleted already, if people want to change it back to default again, or change it back to their own startpage / searchengine, firefox won't save the settings.
So after a next Firefox session, the Hijacked startpage / searchengine etc is back again.

The cause is a user.js file present inside the Firefox profile folder. So, in this case the %APPDATA%\Mozilla\Firefox\Profiles\"identity" folder.
The user.js file does not exist by default and was in this case added/modified by malware.
This file is used to set or reset preferences to a default value. For example whenever the browser is loaded, the values present in the user.js file will supersede the stored values in the prefs.js file.
The prefs.js file contains the values you can access/modify via about:config or via the preferences in Tools > Options Menu in Firefox.
See here for more info about the user.js file.

I've also seen the same where malware changed the Proxysettings and created a user.js file to store the Proxysettings there. Result > once the malware was removed, the user would get the error: "The Proxy Server is Refusing Connections" since the user.js file is still in use.
Some versions of the Ask Toolbar also create a user.js file in the Firefox userprofile, so after uninstalling the Ask Toolbar, the homepage + searches are still set to Ask.com because the user.js file is still present.

That's why, if you're ever having problems with Firefox that won't save settings like startpage, searchengine, proxysettings etc.., then look if a user.js file is present in the Firefox profile folder and delete or modify it.
The presence of user.js in the Firefox profile folder doesn't necessarily mean that it's a bad file. Many people create their own user.js to supersede the stored values in the prefs.js file. So if you didn't create the user.js file yourself, you may delete it (since it's not present by default anyway).
If you're not sure, just rename it to user.js.bak, or open the file with notepad to see what values are present there.

Cold Turkey for X-mas.

I haven't been online much lately, this for several reasons. One of the reasons is.. I quit smoking!
I was trying to avoid situations where cigs were needed the most. I have to admit that actually every situation where I was allowed to smoke was a reason to smoke.
But the worst situation was when I was using computers - more than 10 hours a day, one cig after another. You can imagine I was smoking a lot!

I've already tried to quit last year - but that failed. I was going nuts after two days and a cig was my only relief. Sad, isn't it?
After my failure last year, I decided to smoke less. I didn't allow myself to smoke in the house anymore. So everytime I wanted a cig, I had to go outside, or smoke in the garage.
This actually helped a lot, I didn't break my own rule and smoked only the half of what I used to smoke. Even when I was using the computer, instead of having 6 (or sometimes more) cigs in one hour, I only had to go outside 2 or 3 times an hour. (I know, I know, it's still a lot).

After a couple of months (last week), I was wondering what I was actually doing. This was just silly and I had to stop that.

My own rule to go outside for a smoke worked like I charm and I never broke that rule. So why can't I make my own rule to quit smoking?

So, last week, I smoked my last cig and that was it.

I'm not using any nicotine replacement therapy aids like gum, patches or inhalers. No medications either like Zyban to reduce the craving, no hypnosis, acupuncture.... whatever. Just quit smoking Cold Turkey.
The only thing I used was a book (no, I didn't smoke it) by Allen Carr - "Easy Way To Stop Smoking". As a matter of fact, it is easy if you believe it!

It's already more than a week I quit smoking and I have to say - it's going pretty well. I've tried to avoid computers as much as possible in the first couple of days. Now I'm "facing" computers again and I don't really feel the "hunger" for a cig. The only thing is - I still feel the need to stand up 2 or 3 times in an hour to go outside. :-)
I'm like Pavlov's Dog - but then I remember the famous quote by Yoda: "You must unlearn what you have learned".

Anyway, I'm glad I quit smoking and I'm sure I won't fail this time.

Happy Holidays!!

Please disable Autorun asap!

We see an increase in USB-Based Malware Attacks lately - See here and here for more info.
Unfortunately, in the last few weeks, I have seen many cases where the enabled autorun feature caused A LOT of problems afterwards. This means that many are not aware of the dangers yet.
For example.. Some scenarios I have seen in the last couple of weeks are:

* Computer gets infected with Win32/Sality.NAR (NOD32 detection). This is a polymorphic file infector which searches local and network drives for files with the .exe extension and infects them by adding a new section that contains the viruscode.
It also copies itself into the root folders of removable drives using a random filename and creates an autorun.inf file to make sure it runs whenever it is inserted into another computer. It also disables most AV scanners by terminating their services/processes, disables Taskmanager, disables Regedit and much more to prevent it being detected or disinfected.
In this case, the user had an USB flashdrive and used it to transfer removal tools etc in order to remove this infection, since no scanners would work. What happened was, since this virus also spreads via removable media, his USB flashdrive became infected > result > His other computer was infected as well!

* Computer gets infected with W32/AutoRun-OY - This one also spreads via removable drives. This computer is used at home and every user has its own account. Mom, dad, son and daughter. Son loves to play games, but also loves to download games + cracks via illegal resources.
And that's how the computer at home gets infected with W32/AutoRun-OY. No detection since the Antivirus application that was installed was only a trial and was already expired for more than a year. Dad works for a big company and he tranfers his database+files from the computer at work to an USB flashdrive so he can proceed with his work at home.
The usb flashdrive gets infected when he inserts it into the infected computer at home. Since no scanner (because it's outdated) gives an alert and blocks the malware, there's no sign that the computer + Flashdrive is infected.
Dad goes back to work, inserts the flashdrive into his computer at work and... it gets infected as well. No alert, nothing! It appears that the computer at work didn't even have an Antivirus installed !! And, worst part of all was... Virut was also present! See here for more info. This is imho a lost case, and especially for business owned computers, it is irresponsible to clean this up manually. Format and reinstall is the fastest and especially the safest solution here.
So, who is to blame here? Imho, everyone is. The son who is responsible for visiting illegal sites in order to download his games + cracks, plus the fact that the Antivirus was outdated, plus the fact that dad uses an USB flashdrive containing corporate information and inserts it into the personal computer (see here how to protect your data), plus the fact that the computers at work didn't even have any protection/AV installed.
Anyway, this is so irresponsible, especially when company owned computers are involved.

* And today, I have another case where someone gets infected with W32/AutoRun-OY, where mom uses an usb flashdrive to transfer files to use at work and is already complaining about the fact that there are "problems". This thread is still in progress and I really hope this isn't a lost case.

No wonder the Military bans disks and USB drives

This appears to be a common problem nowadays - that's why it is so important to prevent spreading similar infections by disabling Autorun.

To disable autorun, please read the following tutorials:

http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows/disable-autoplay-of-audio-cds-and-usb-drives/ (applies for XP Pro since XP Home has no gpedit.msc present)
http://www.engadget.com/2004/06/29/how-to-tuesday-disable-autorun-on-windows/ (aplies for XP Home. Same can be used for XP Pro)
http://www.howtogeek.com/howto/windows-vista/disable-autoplay-in-windows-vista/ (applies for Vista)

Some malware removal tools already disable Autorun by default. Don't complain about this. This is an extra security measure and you should have it disabled. If you really want to enable this again - then it's your own responsibility. Don't complain afterwards if you get infected and are responsible for infecting a lot of other computers as well.

Update: Extra instructions to disable autorun (by US CERT) can be found here.

And another Paypal Phish...

This is a mail I received in my mailbox one hour ago:

For your protection, we have limited access to your account until additional security
measures can be completed. We apologize for any inconvenience this may cause.

To review your account and some or all of the information that Pay Pal
used to make its decision to limit your account access, please visit the Resolution Center.

We encourage you to log in and restore full access as soon as possible. Should access to your
account remain limited for an extended period of time, it may result in further limitations on
the use of your account or may result in eventual account closure.


----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Click here to resolve the problem.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Sincerely,
PayPal Account Review Team

Click to enlarge

After I clicked the link, I was presented with this fake page:


Click to enlarge

Ok, let's enter "my" Email Address and PayPal Password to Log In.


Click to enlarge

The usual Logging in screen, which then opened the following page:


Click to enlarge

They don't only want your Paypal Password, but as you see, A LOT of other information as well - Card number, Expiration date, Card verification number, Pin number and Bank name.

Anyway, if you became a victim of this Phish, contact Paypal and your Bank immediately and change your Paypal Password asap!

MSN Virus!! No scanners detect it!!!!

This is a common subject I see in forums lately.
People are complaining about an "MSN Virus" and no scanners can detect it.
This so called "MSN Virus" is responsible for sending links to their contacts list.
Yes, there are indeed some worms, spreading via messenger and infecting your computer, for example the IRCBOT-RB Trojan and many other variants.

However, this one is totally different... and is actually already going on for a while...

It appears that many aren't aware of this one yet, because I still see so many threads in forums where many AV scanners and other scanners were being used > result > no detections, no strange files, no strange loading points etc..
Long threads with no ending since they can't find the main cause.

Actually, the main cause is very simple - The login/password of the MSN account was gathered because they entered that info via the link they received once.
This is an example of a link they receive:



More detailed info from some older blogposts:
http://phatybomb.blogspot.com/2008/04/how-to-solve-this-pesky-msn-virus.html
http://blog.spywareguide.com/2008/06/another-site-asking-for-msn-lo.html

Links may be different, but the scenario is still the same.

If you click that link, your browser will open and you are presented with a webpage where it prompts you to enter your MSN Login and Password to proceed.
Ofcourse, the only purpose here is to gather your Login and password so they can (ab)use it to log in into your account and send the same link to your other contacts.
In this case, your computer isn't infected which explains why scanners won't find a thing.

Solution is simple: Change your MSN password.

As I said, this one is already going on for a while - but in the last couple of days, I see more and more threads in forums about this one - endless threads with several different logs which won't show anything.
That's why, if you think you're dealing with a similar "infection", change your password first and see if that solves your problem. If not, then make sure your Antivirus Scanner is up to date and perform a full scan with it.

Congrats Belsec!

For the people who don't know Belsec, check out the blog here: http://belsec.skynetblogs.be
Today, Belsec exists 1 year - Happy Birthday!!!

Some exclusive articles, free stuff and other goodies will be posted there this week, so make sure you don't miss it.