My PC has been attacked and need help

[1sttruck]

I've saw one of those pop ups on a site recently. There'd be less of this stuff is a few of the hackers ended up with broken fingers.

 

[Pablo]

WARNING

In my thread about my PC infestation I put in some addresses of a suspect BAD actor.

PLEASE DO NOT CLICK ON THESE LINKS AND BUY THIS CRAP - ONE is actually an executable!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[Bob Woods]

I hate to say it but this attack was malicious and directed at me, and I believe it came from a server in Canada, but it can be difficult to tell.
Pablo

Don't take it personal, it just goes and goes. The FTC is starting to nail some of these ********, but it will take a long time to clean up the off shore venders of this crap.

 

[Pablo]

I wanted to call the campany with the phone # given......

I didn't take it personally and I'm not angry. Just saddened again by my fellow man.

 

[Bob Woods]

Its probably a false number or goes to an answering service. The owner of spyaxe and spywarestrike used two different addresses and niether one appears valid according to online mapping sites. Plus the two different phone numbers he uses are cell numbers. His email addresses check OK.

[ January 17, 2006, 02:28 PM: Message edited by: Bob Woods ]

 

[Pablo]

I got a response from FTC:

quote:

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Thank you for visiting the FTC's web page and for using our NEW electronic Talk To Us form. Here's what happened to your information after you sent it to us:
One of our consumer counselors reviewed the information you sent us. If it was related to the FTC's law enforcement responsibilities, we entered it into our shared law enforcement data system. We share this data system with law enforcement agencies throughout the United States and Canada. Attached is your electronic response, which includes your reference number. Any enclosures can be found at www.FTC.GOV under the News Releases, Publications, Speeches option.
Information from consumers like you helps Federal, State and Local authorities investigate possible illegal practices and enforce our laws. Someone from the Federal Trade Commission or another law enforcement agency may contact you if they need additional information to help them in an investigation.
Thank you for using our Talk To Us form, and please continue to use the FTC's web page, www.ftc.gov, to get free information to help you avoid costly consumer problems.

(per the attachment .txt file):

Thank you for recent correspondence. The Federal Trade Commission acts in the public interest to stop business practices that violate the laws it enforces. Letters from consumers and businesses are very important to the work of the Commission. They are often the first indication of a problem in the marketplace and may provide the initial evidence to begin an investigation. The Commission does not resolve individual complaints. The Commission can, however, act when it sees a pattern of possible violations developing.

The information you have provided will be recorded in our complaint retention system. This computerized system enables us to identify questionable business practices that are generating numerous complaints and may be in violation of the law.

Thank you for providing information that may be used to develop or support Commission enforcement initiatives.


Sincerely yours,

Consumer Response Center

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[Pablo]

You think that company would have me tailed?

 

[zombie_tech]

quote:

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Ad aware is terrible IMHO. Catches nothing of significance.

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I'm surprised it wouldn't help you. I find it to be much better then most of the other items that were recommended and is generally the first one I use for a spyware/adware problem.

It sounds like you have already rebuilt your system but for future reference here are some things you can try/look at before you go that far.

1)Run your antivirus and/or adware program in "safe mode". Depending on what you have on the system you may not be able to detect it and/or clean it unless you are in "safe mode" which is accessible in most Windows operating systems since '95 by hitting F8 when the OS starts to boot, however this doesn't include NT4 which did not include a "safe mode" technically.

2)Look at the "run" line of the registry under both the "local machine" and "current user" sections. Most adware/spyware/viruses add a reference here to allow it to start with the system. Some of the Windows OS versions include a program called "msconfig" which can show you this info and allows you to deselect various lines which turns them off. If you don't have an OS with that option like XP then you either run "regedit" to manually look or use a third party tool

3) Depending on the OS look in either c:\windows\system or c:\windows\system32 and sort the folder by date and look for recent files with strange names like xyzabc.dll under "safe mode". Some files will have legitimate looking names but are also bogus. This can usually be found by looking at the properties of the file for its digital signature. Most adware/spyware/virues don't have them while a legitimate OS file will have a signature referencing microsoft, the name of the file, its version, etc.

9 out of 10 times you can get the machine cleaned up and back to "normal".

 

[1sttruck]

1st assumption, no, it'd just make things worse for them in a legal issue. But, it's just an assumption and you need to consider the possible downsides of being wrong.

Best advice is don't get paranoid, do whatever precautions you think are warranted, but most of all keep a clear head.