Microsoft have been researching the latest threat, and have concluded that the Vobfus virus is highly effective at infecting all computers on a single network. By pairing up with other known PC viruses, the Vobfus makes it really hard to clean up the infected computer system, according to the research.
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As is so often the case with these types of viruses, the perpetrators object is data theft. Once the virus is successfully installed, the creators begin mining the PC for valuable personal data. This data is then used for spam attacks, to attack other machines or to be sold on to rival gangs.
The Vobfus has a proffered partner, which is the Beebone virus. Typically, according to lead Microsoft researcher, Choi, the Vobfus virus with download and install first. The Vobfus virus has a number of tricks up its sleeve for getting itself downloaded – none of which are to novel. They include dirty links and infected USB drives, both of which provide an easy route to download. Once the virus is installed, it lets in its partner Beebone, which then attaches the infected computer to a botnet. This essentially means that your machine has become part of a wider network of infected computers, from where the two viruses continue spreading.
According to Choi and his Microsoft team, the Beebone virus is the larger threat.
“In the case with Vobfus, even if it is detected and remediated, it could have downloaded an undetected Beebone which can in turn download an undetected variant of Vobfus,” he said.
“The two threat families are intrinsically related,” wrote Mr Choi, adding that the “cyclical relationship” had helped Vobfus become a persistent problem since 2009 when it first appeared.
Once again, this latest threat indicates a renewed need for people to be much more careful about the links that they click on. This is especially true for any links n spam emails – quite simply, never click such links!