Europol along with Microsoft and other security firms has successfully taken down a malicious program, Ramnit botnet, that disabled Windows update on approximately 3 million computers worldwide within five years of attack. The disabling of Windows update by Ramnit makes infected PCs expose to malware attacks.
According to security firm Symantec, the virus, capable of stealing passwords and confidential data of internet banking, first surfaced in 2010. The virus was designed to infect EXE, DLL and HTML files that are stored on the hard disk or other connected storage devices. Once the virus is active, it alters several security settings of Windows, including the virus-scanner installed by default. The botnet was under stoplight in 2012 for infecting Facebook and other social media sites.
On the take down of disastrous virus, Europol’s deputy director of operations, Wil van Gemert, quoted as saying, “This successful operation shows the importance of international law enforcement working together with private industry in the fight against the global threat of cybercrime.
”We will continue our efforts in taking down botnets and disrupting the core infrastructures used by criminals to conduct a variety of cybercrimes. Together with the EU Member States and partners around the globe, our aim is to protect people around the world against these criminal activities.
”Microsoft and Symantec have released remedy to clean and restore infected computers’ defense. Microsoft advises users to regularly scan their computer with antivirus scanners and warns to be careful with e-mails and social media messages of unknown users.
”During the past six months, Microsoft detected approximately 500,000 instances of computers infected with Ramnit,” Microsoft said in a blog post. “If you’re using Windows 8 or later versions, Windows Defender comes built-in. If you’re running an older operating system, you can install Microsoft Security Essentials,” it added.
Although, the minds behind the botnet are not able to communicate with the infected computers, but the infected devices still contain the virus and the modified settings are still active. So, it would require the activeness of PC user to take the requisite steps for PC security.
Courtesy by Live PC Expert
