Virus hit me on Facebook

Info on Koobface:

Koobface is a computer worm that targets the users of the social networking websites Facebook and Koobface ultimately attempts, upon successful infection, to gather sensitive information from the victims such as credit card numbers.

Koobface spreads by delivering Facebook messages to people that are ‘friends’ of someone on Facebook whose computer has already been infected. Upon receipt, the message directs the recipients to a third-party website unaffiliated with Facebook where they are prompted to download what is purported to be an update of the Adobe Flash player. If they download and execute the file, they will infect their computer with Koobface. Koobface then commandeers their surfing activities and directs users to contaminated websites when they attempt to access search engines from Google, Yahoo, MSN and Live.com.

To remove:

1. Disable System Restore (Windows Me/XP).
2. Update the virus definitions.
3. Run a full system scan.
4. Delete any values added to the registry.

To remove registry entries :
1. First back up your registry
2. Click Start > Run.
3. Type regedit
4. Click OK.

Navigate to and delete the following registry entry:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\Current Version\Run\”systray” = “c:\windows\mstre6.exe”

exit regedit

reboot your computer and see if it is gone. If so, re-enable System restore ( if on XP )

Wrong - the security by obscurity myth doesn't fly

It's called "economic motivation". Certainly more obscure systems have been infected, but the most recent trend in malware is to make money from the hack. These guys have moved on from "how can we mess with people" to how can we make money from our crime.

In the past many viruses were written to accompany 5.25" floppy disks. But there aren't so many now. Could we then conclude that the 5.25" floppy is more secure than a hard drive?

Almost every virus I've cleaned, excepting conficker, has a big bold price tag right there on the computer. A $49.95 blackmail attempt.

Here is a pretty good article called When Malware Attacks from the director of technologies from Cloudmark.

My Antarctica joke was tounge-in-cheek though. No offense intended. I've seen several inexperienced users switch from PC to Mac recently and they absolutely love it. It gets a bit old however when somebody is in a bind with a virus and they are reaching out for help and you get the mandatory "buy a mac" slap or apple logo posting.

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