How I got infected last time thread

insanity

Level 5
Verified
Oct 9, 2016
216
Back in 2010 I used to work on my projects, assignments and access my email account from shared computers. A certain day I realised my Hotmail (email) inbox, drafts and sent box were full of copies of a message, which had an attachment containing a virus. Most of my email contacts have also received a copy of the message sent from my account. I can't say precisely if my account was invaded by an individual or if it that was the result of a virus. I don't know if this could be classified as an infection but that was my last relevant incident I can remember.
 

mrwhoopee

Level 1
Mar 7, 2014
7
Just a few weeks ago I was looking for a portable version of some forgotten software. Found a link claiming to offer same. Even though the site and the file name contained .RU, and I knew it was risky, I gave it a try. I was even too lazy to go upstairs and test it in a VM. Of course, the next thing I knew, my browser and search engine were speaking Russian. :eek:Spent the next few hours undoing everything. Fortunately the damage was limited to browser and search hijacks, but they were creatively executed and it took a while to sort it out. I didn't even get the portable I was looking for.:(
 

Weebarra

Level 17
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Apr 5, 2017
836
I was stupidly watching football (not legally i am ashamed to admit) and only the Good Lord above knows what i did but i had browser hijackers, all sorts of adware and other crappy stuff on my pc. I didn't know how to deal with it and contacted Microsoft to try and sort it out, i was only using free antivirus so once it was sorted i stopped watching footie illegally and got myself some half decent security (i hope) lesson learnt for me
 

WinXPert

Level 25
Verified
Honorary Member
Top Poster
Malware Hunter
Well-known
Jan 9, 2013
1,457
Mine was last year. Someone was asking help in removing rotinom. Since he can't provide a sample, I tested my archived sample "live" on my netbook. Rotinom is easy to remove manually even if you don't have an AV but this damn sample is infected with sality. I did clean the PC but some files got corrupted beyond repair so I end up restoring my system from an old image. Moral of the story, remember that if you play with fire you get burned.

Use all precautions to protect yourself like using custom extensions with my installers. I do that as a precaution in case I'll be disinfecting sality (which is still prevalent here).
 

sithlordadler

Level 2
Verified
Jun 27, 2015
50
My first major infection was a fake antivirus trojan. I was younger and didn't know what it was at the time. Took a while to get rid of that bugger once I learned what a rouge AV is.:confused: My last one was probably a browser hijacker, that randomly appeared on my PC out of nowhere called mysearchdial. Even then that was a while ago and I still am extremely paranoid even today with what is out there. Human errors are inevitable though.
 

Cats-4_Owners-2

Level 39
Verified
Honorary Member
Top Poster
Well-known
Dec 4, 2013
2,800
One time , 20+ years ago, when i got my first PC, it was in fact a PUP (but the term didn't existed yet ) detected by my AV, then i start digging about security and here i am.
Umbra was incurably :eek:infected with knowledge,:rolleyes: ..lots & lots of it!o_O
Fortunately, for all the rest of us, it was/is (by nature) highly contagious!!!:D:D :cool:
 

Winter Soldier

Level 25
Verified
Top Poster
Well-known
Feb 13, 2017
1,486
Thanks for sharing your experiences :)

I got infected many years ago.
I was using Windows XP and a 56K dial up connection... downloading a free game, a dialer changed the phone number of my ISP to a very expensive international prefix.
I don't remember which AV I was using (or if I used an AV :oops::rolleyes:).
The surprise came with the phone invoice :D:eek:
 

ctrlz

Level 2
Verified
Mar 20, 2017
54
Never been infected.
Anyway a month ago I installed CIS and, after few days, a strange popup from Internet Security Essentials appeared.
I thought to have been infected by a fake av since I've never choose to install it and the alert was quite vague/non-sense, then I formatted the pc (google is pretty useless if you search Internet Security Essentials).
After few days, I found out that it was installed automatically by Comodo for MITM protection :mad:

upload_2017-5-3_21-16-57.png
 

Deletedmessiah

Level 25
Verified
Top Poster
Content Creator
Well-known
Jan 16, 2017
1,469
If PUP counts, I was infected 4 years ago. I installed some video downloader, it installed bunch of craps and browser toolbars. Could not uninstall some of them. Malwarebytes Anti Malware and Adwcleaner removed them. Took time to find out about these software as I was tech noob back then.
 

Transhumana

Level 6
Verified
Well-known
Jul 6, 2017
271
Well, it seems that HitmanPro suddenly started detecting uTorrent on my laptop as malware. :eek: After initial shock of seeing "threats detected" scan result after so many years of not getting infected, I checked hashes on virus total and it seems it might have been false positive. But still, I uninstalled the program, deleted everything and scanned again. Avast Full Virus Scan, JRT, AdwCleaner, HitmanPro and MBAM scan results were all completely clean so I'm slowly starting to leave the paranoid mode. :oops:
 

Hadden

Level 2
Verified
Oct 18, 2015
97
Simply opened a doubt installer with security off.
And I was almost sure was infected.
Quite masochist, I've to admit it :D
Just some nasty adware, but I get rid of them.

I always scan ed2k/torrents/attachments, they could have very nasty files inside ^^,
Severe infections belong to xp era :3
And yes, don't download anything from softonic :D
 
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XhenEd

Level 28
Verified
Honorary Member
Top Poster
Content Creator
Well-known
Mar 1, 2014
1,708
My first and last infection was when I downloaded and installed a fake AV. I was still naive that time, you know. :D I only noticed that my laptop was infected because I couldn't click and go anywhere except the screen of the fake AV. I had Avast installed that time, but Avast was silent. But it was weird because Avast detected and deleted it when I ran a boot-time scan. :D
 

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