I’ve been a victim of Antivirus XP 2008, a Trojan disguised as Breaking News. It’s just very unfortunate that I happen to be subscribed to CNN’s breaking news. So even if the mail was placed as Spam, and since I did subscribed to it, I opened the email. I was clueless that the moment I clicked on the linked, I just accepted a Trojan.
I was shocked that a Antivirus XP 2008 was installed on my computer. My computer went crazy after that. It kept on scanning and showing messages that my computer was loaded with hundreds of security risks so so I need to purchase their Antivirus program.
The Trojan will not download an Antivirus but more malware once you click on the link. The email from address is actually fake and did not come from CNN nor MSNBC. If you open the fake email containing the Trojan, it will be installed in your PC. Those virus programmers know that people will be subscribing to these news agencies because of the 2008 Beijing Olympics so they exploited that window of opportunity to wreck havoc.
So how did I get rid of Antivirus XP 2008? I restarted the computer on Safe Mode then I did a thorough scan using Symantec. However, when I restarted the PC, Symantec can still detect the presence of the threats. What I did was I take note of the filename of the threats and then scanned again using TrendMicro’s HighJackThis and then manually selected the filename to be deleted.
Lessons learned, even if you are expecting to receive an email, one can never be too cautious. Always think twice before downloading any files receive through emails. Prevention is always better than cure so always update your antivirus programs and don’t forget to back-up your files regularly.
Article by Glady
Glady has a fulltime job but always on the lookout for rakets or any money making experiments to achieve financial freedom.
