Facebook Surprise (English version)

(Originally found at: http://www.kgk.gr/2010/10/31/facebook-surprise-en/)

If you receive a Facebook message from a friend saying: “I got you a surprise“, DO NOT CLICK ON THE LINK because it will lead you to a virus.

If you did click on the link and downloaded and executed virus, without your antivirus stopping you, then you have been infected because the antivirus you are using is not yet aware of the existence of this virus.

If you have been infected, then you are already sending messages to all your Facebook friends, without your knowledge, urging them to get infected as well.

STEP #1: LOGOUT!

If you logout, then the virus will lose access to your Facebook account and will not be able to send any more messages. Do not just close the browser, log out first (in order for the session to end).

STEP #2: DELETE photo.exe

This is the virus file you downloaded from the website you were redirected to. It is probably stored together with all your downloaded files.

STEP #3: DELETE THE OFFSPRING OF photo.exe

As soon as you executed photo.exe, it created two new files to do its job. Those files were initially named 1.exe and 2.exe but they were immediately renamed to two other random names. In order to track them down you have to enter the folder where they are stored.

In the case I examined, the files were stored in the Application Data folder of the running Windows (XP/2000/NT) account. In order to gain access to this folder, you can either type it into the address bar: C:\Documents and Settings\USERNAME\Application Data (where USENAME is the name of your Windows account), or enter it manually from My Computer – Documents and Settings – USERNAME – Application Data if you first unhide the Hidden files and Folders. Note: for Windows 7 / Vista users, the path is C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Local .

(Windows XP/2000/NT: In order to make the hidden files and folders appear, open My Computer and click on Tools – Folder Options – View – Hidden Files and Folders – Show hidden files and folders – OK).

(Windows 7/Vista: In order to make the hidden files and folders appear, open My Computer and click on Organize – Folder and Search Options – View – Show hidden files, folders and drives – OK).

Inside Application Data you will find many subfolders but the only file that should be in this folder is the hidden file desktop.ini. Based on what I have seen, you will find the two funny named offspring of the virus in here. DO NOT EXECUTE THEM! Try and delete them using Shift Delete (so that they won’t even go to the Recycle Bin) but if the system won’t let you delete one of them because it is already running, then right click on the Start bar and select Task Manager (this also opens from Ctrl Alt Del). On this list, find the name of the executable file that you cannot delete (because it is already running), right click it and select End Task. As soon as it stops running delete it and make sure that both files are no longer in this folder.

Extra tip: Windows 7/Vista users will have to also look inside the subfolders C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\ and C:\Users\USERNAME\AppData\Roaming\Microsoft\Windows\ for executable files which were created on the day they were infected by the virus, because those are also offspring of the virus.

STEP #4: SCHEDULED TASKS

The names of these two files have also been inserted in the scheduled tasks of your computer so that they can be executed whenever they want. Even though you just deleted the files, it is good practice to also remove these two redundant tasks. Click on Control Panel – Scheduled Tasks and remove the two tasks that contain the funny names of the files you just deleted. Note: in Windows 7/Vista you will find this at Start – Control Panel – System and Security – Administrative Tools – Scheduled Tasks.

STEP #5.1: CLEAN THE SECURITY TOOL VIRUS

Based on the information I have gathered, the first executable uses the Facebook mobile messaging protocol to abuse your active Facebook session id and message all your friends, while the second executable installs the “Security Tool” virus, which will eventually slow down your computer and restrict your Web access. The second executable, though, will become active only after the messaging of the first executable completes so, based on this fact, you only have a limited amount of time to act before your computer becomes almost unresponsive.

If your antivirus hasn’t cleaned it already, use the free version of Malwarebytes’ Anti-Malware or ComboFix but beware, the “Security Tool” virus can recognize their filenames and may stop you from installing them. Download the antivirus tools from a clean computer onto a flash USB stick, rename them to something else (combofix.exe -> notme.exe) and then install them on the infected computer. If the infected computer is too unresponsive already, log into Safe Mode using the F8 key when the computer boots up and try again there. The “Security Tool” virus can be completely removed without having to format your computer.

And, of course, do not even think of buying the fake antivirus that the “Security Tool” is offering because they will steal your credit card information.

STEP #5.2: THE TEMPORARY FILES

In some mutations of the virus, some files are left behind in the temp folder of your computer. The Windows temporary folder has lots of unneeded files inside, which have been left behind from some applications, and it is the best place for a virus file to hide. In order to delete those files, click Start – Run – type %Temp% and click OK. Inside the folder that just opened you can freely delete all the contained files and folders. If some .exe cannot be currently deleted, then there are high chances that it is part of the virus. End its task, as before, and then delete it.

STEP #5.3: THE WINDOWS FIREWALL

If you have not installed your own firewall then you are using the firewall of Windows. In many cases the “Security Tool” turns off the Windows firewall so that it can do whatever it wants freely, so you have to check that it is on. Click Start – Control Panel – Windows Firewall, make sure that it says On and click OK.

STEP #5.4: IF YOU CAN’T USE THE WEB

If you have done everything mentioned above but you still cannot access any websites, then maybe the virus has left a forgotten setting behind. While it was active, it rerouted all the sites you viewed via the virus, but now that it no longer exists, you cannot access anything. You have to disable the proxy settings of all the browsers in your computer so that they will not stop using proxies. Do Internet Explorer first because it affects your system the most: Tools – Internet Options – Connections – LAN Settings – uncheck Use a proxy server for your LAN – OK. Also, if you have Firefox: Tools – Options – Advanced – Network – Settings – No proxy – OK.

STEP #5.5: IF YOUR SYSTEM IS STILL SLOW

If everything has gone according to plan, then you have now removed all the files of the virus from your computer. But if your Internet connection is still way too slow, then maybe the “Security Tool” messed with the hosts file of your computer. Just in case, you can visit http://support.microsoft.com/kb/972034 offered by Microsoft, click on the “Fix it” button and the problem will be automatically fixed. In the same page you can find instructions on how to do the same thing manually, if you prefer.

STEP #6: MAINTENANCE

1. Change your Facebook password (just in case).
2. Empty your Recycle Bin.
3. Clear the temporary cache of all the web browsers in your computer (history, cookies, temporary files, etc).
4. Update your antivirus database and run a full computer scan for viruses.
5. Update your Windows from the Control Panel update menu.
6. DO NOT OPEN A LINK YOU ARE NOT SURE WHAT IT CONTAINS EVER AGAIN and if you open it DO NOT DOWNLOAD ANY FILES FROM IT, ESPECIALLY EXECUTABLES.

This virus started spreading around October 30 and it is still unknown where it is coming from. If I find out anything else concerning how to remove this virus, I will update this article. Good luck.

Konstantinos Gkoutzis

PS1: MacOS users are not affected by photo.exe (unless they are running Windows on Bootcamp)

PS2: If you have been infected, you should probably set a status message asking everyone to NOT open your messages

PS3: This specific virus is made specifically for Windows (.exe) and can only be executed on devices using the Windows operating system. The reason that the messages appear to be sent from mobile devices is because the virus abuses the mobile protocol of Facebook to send mass messages from an external application using a stolen session id from the browser. So, no, your iPhone will not turn into a zombie because it cannot execute this virus.

PS4: Future viruses which may propagate using the same way might make sure that they address all operating systems so, whichever device your are using, be careful what you open.

The future of metadata

If we take a close look at modern civilisation, we will conclude that the world is currently experiencing the Information Era, where knowledge is everything and everywhere. The proper management of knowledge presupposes the existence of mechanisms for organising information, in order to match the appropriate pieces together. Unfortunately, the Internet is full of (mostly) uncategorised information and a human simply cannot absorb and process the increasingly huge amount of data available. This is the reason why computers are utilised to gather and present knowledge in a more streamlined manner, so that people are able to browse through the findings in a faster and more convenient manner.

XML and all technologies that are based on it, provide the facilities for electronic devices - even of different nature - to communicate with each other and exchange data in a commonly acceptable manner. This is really important especially when it comes to making machines responsible for information gathering and the delivery of coherent results that a human can understand and rely upon. For this purpose, the metadata technique of tagging data with extra information has proven to be quite useful, especially when we demand correct automated query response. Nevertheless, there are still certain problems that remain unresolved.

The current drawbacks of meta-tagging sum up to three factors of the human nature: responsibility, credibility and objectivity. When people publish information on the Internet, they do not always take the time to label and organise them based on the existing standards for each category, thus making their meaning vague for a computer. This lack of responsibility can be avoided by utilising predefined methods for posting and manipulating elements on the Web, so that they can carry at least some basic tagging.

Even if this problem is surpassed, no one can guarantee that the categories and tags that the user has selected are appropriate for each object, because not everyone is a field expert on everything they post on-line. There have to be certain non-profit consortiums which will agree on very specific predefined tags so that confusion about metadata can be avoided.

Finally, the biggest problem of all is objectivity. Even for an organised consortium of scientists and field experts it would be amazingly difficult to agree on a common methodology for characterising every possible piece of information out there. The only way to prevent the debates from reaching a total deadlock is to try and be very specific but at the same time leave room for reasonable doubt, because even what is considered as "common knowledge" is revised and corrected every day.

Philosophy and Sociology will play an important role in the definition of most data categories (e.g. ideas and concepts) which are unsubstantial by nature. The Semantic Web project is already trying to organise information in standardised structures called Ontologies. This will create common ground for all scientists who want to share information in order to conduct more accurate research. As time passes, this standardisation will play a significant role in information categorisation and exchange. Hopefully humanity will soon be able to access this never-ending "Web" of knowledge and get all the information it requests, immediately and safely.

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Hello :)