So my boss contracted an IT guy to fix our computers...

rollandtoke

Active Member
The main file server was out of commission. This was a backup on an external hard drive. They wanted to pull the data off of the external and place it on a computer for temporary access. Not sure why they can't pull what we need directly from external, but they wanted to shut the external off for some reason.

Today was my first day back at work, so I haven't been instrumental in anything that's going on.

My only guess is they suspect the external as the virus host, however if its constantly attatched to a networked PC, it would have to get it from a networked PC.

By any chance has he mentioned the virus??? Is it the Win32/FakeRean!ZIP virus by any chance? Cause that has been revived recently (originally from 2009) and its turning into a nasty fucker.
 

guy incognito

Well-Known Member
My only guess is they suspect the external as the virus host, however if its constantly attatched to a networked PC, it would have to get it from a networked PC.

By any chance has he mentioned the virus??? Is it the Win32/FakeRean!ZIP virus by any chance? Cause that has been revived recently (originally from 2009) and its turning into a nasty fucker.
Everything got shut down and disconnected. Then turned on and disinfected one by one. He did not specify what virus it was, or even say it was just one. He claimed it was "thousands" on the computers. He said mine was especially bad. I read the symantec log that was on my computer and it was 5. 3 "threats", 1 "registry error", and 1 "tracking cookie". From my experience a single malware or virus infection rarely comes back as a single problem in a scanner. The log said they were fixed, but I could not find anymore details about them so I don't know exactly what they were.
 

rollandtoke

Active Member
Everything got shut down and disconnected. Then turned on and disinfected one by one. He did not specify what virus it was, or even say it was just one. He claimed it was "thousands" on the computers. He said mine was especially bad. I read the symantec log that was on my computer and it was 5. 3 "threats", 1 "registry error", and 1 "tracking cookie". From my experience a single malware or virus infection rarely comes back as a single problem in a scanner. The log said they were fixed, but I could not find anymore details about them so I don't know exactly what they were.

Hmm...sorry mate, he def milked you guys for all he could. If you had "thousands" you would be almost inoperable or at least would notice many things awry (shortcuts not working, settings all different, things missing). If only 3 threats, 1 reg error and 1 tracking cookie, its just 1 piece of malware. Every piece of malware contains 3 main components...

a registry file so it can try to embed itself into your comp, a cookie so that if you were to search for any common AV progs (ie malwarebytes, AVG, Norton, etc) it redirects you, and an executable program (and usually multiple to accomplish multiple things...usually 3 or more) to infest your system and fuck shit up
 

rollandtoke

Active Member
lol no i get it alot of people goto end page then start thinkin lol


haha, good. Didnt want any harsh feelings. I think we are all in agreement that while the tech guy who showed up did complete the job, but he worked it. And unfortunately that is how the tech world is. I used to do free-lance but couldnt hack it helping out friends/families with decent prices, hence why im involved in a company now....its steady fulltime pay.
 

guy incognito

Well-Known Member
That's what i've been saying.

To put things in perspective though, we are doing some projects that are we charged hundreds of thousands of dollars for. It was an assload of resources and work. We've had multiple guys flying all over to different plants in california, texas, georgia, kansas, etc.

That was the project I had to fly out and work on. I am the guy in charge of the data and the reports. So above and beyond what my actual compensation is, there is an opportunity cost to me spending my time on IT stuff. I can't do reports with the network fucked up, and I can't do reports when I am fixing the network. So I think their logic is if they bring him in, get everything ship shape, and get me working on making them money.

Kind of like if your car breaks down. If you have a large crew of guys on the clock working at premium rates it might be costing you $400/hr. If that truck breaks down and delays you 2 hours you will really be regretting not paying for a premium mechanic. I think it's the same reasoning. They don't want to lose any productivity.
 

ChronicObsession

Well-Known Member
So tuesday I am at work, and I am the only one here. Shortly before I leave I start getting virus looking problems on the computer. I made a thread about it:

https://www.rollitup.org/toke-n-talk/507708-i-fucking-hate-microsoft.html

After thinking about it, I am pretty sure it came from the mp3 player I hooked up. I had absolutely no problems on any of the computers, I plugged the mp3 player in to load up some music, and almost instantly started having problems. It didn't even dawn on me until after the fact when I did some research and found some trojan worms that exhibit very similar problems, and how are these worms spread? According to several sources they are spread via usb devices with the worm embedded in the autorun file, so you plug it into the usb, the computer runs the autorun program to open the device and BAM you are infected. Made perfect sense after I read it and relived the events of the day. I didn't download anything, I didn't browse any suspicious websites. All I did was browse toke n talk, do my work, and try to load music on an mp3 player.

So I had to leave without resolving the problem, which means it fell to somone else. No one else has done any IT work for us for 6 years, and we have had no major problems.

Anyway, the guy come in today, and he wants to scan every computer the company owns. I explain that I don't think that's entirely necessary, especially at this point because i'm fairly certain I know the source, and the time it happened, and only a limited number of computers were hooked up to the network. The rest couldn't possibly be infected from several states away without being networked in anyway. He proceeds to tell me that's not possible, and that's not where the virus came from. He said it did originate from my computer, but not from an mp3 player. He said I had utorrent which is, in his words, "virus ghetto" and probably caused, or at least contributed to the problem.

So now do I sit back and just let him do whatever he thinks needs to be done, and not worry about the price or the consequences?

I think the guy probably does know what he is doing, but I feel like he was trying to bullshit us all. I know utorrent does not inherently contain viruses. I also don't quite believe that a virus infected my computer via utorrent (or any other method), and just laid in wait for an inconvenient time like me to hook an mp3 player up before it infects the entire network. It all just seems way to coincidental.
Did they find any marijuana grows inside some of the PCs?
 

ChronicObsession

Well-Known Member
I am an IT guy. and I know viruses come from Internet Explorer and some MP3 players can hold trojan viruses. You need a USB antivirus, bro. Normal antivirus does half ass job at preventing USB attacks, and once the file is inside of your PC, regardless of having antivirus or not, the PC will fill up with other trojans that the first one uses your internet line to get more of them to you. It's kinda like STDs for computers
 

xKuroiTaimax

Well-Known Member
I am an IT guy. and I know viruses come from Internet Explorer and some MP3 players can hold trojan viruses. You need a USB antivirus, bro. Normal antivirus does half ass job at preventing USB attacks, and once the file is inside of your PC, regardless of having antivirus or not, the PC will fill up with other trojans that the first one uses your internet line to get more of them to you. It's kinda like STDs for computers
True, these kind of viruses have wiped all my work at school before, despite them insisting they have up to date antivirus software. Now I'm Mac-only.
 

Unnk

Well-Known Member
*hisssssssssss*

ssssssssssssswwwwwwwwwwweeeeee doooooo not like macssssssssssssss hereeeeeeee

lol honestly security = maintenance + a little security protocol
 

xKuroiTaimax

Well-Known Member
I've said it before. I was raised a PC girl. My daddy built me my first when I was 7/8 and I used to come in to work with him at a major computer company. I was such a Microsoft fangirl and hated all things Apple because it was popular and looked too pretty to function... Then I got a Mac mini... now we have 3 iPhones, 2 iMacs and an iPad. (God bless eBay and part-exchange)
 

rollandtoke

Active Member
True, these kind of viruses have wiped all my work at school before, despite them insisting they have up to date antivirus software. Now I'm Mac-only.

Going mac isnt gonna help you. There are still viruses for Macs. The reason people think macs are safer is due to the fact that a very small percentage of users use macs, and a majority uses windows, so virus creators will focus on windows for more hits....however...the people who do create Mac viruses know what they are doing and are willing to put in the work to fuck your day up....so while you may not experience the every day attacks, when you DO get a virus, you wont be able to recover.

Macs are good for graphic/web designers and people who are obsessed with fApple
 
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