Topic: Rootkits..

[RossRoy]

Just had my first bout with a malicious rootkit! All search results on Google and Bing were redirected when clicked on - in both IE and Firefox! Wish I knew where he got that ...

Anyways... these rootkits are tenacious little buggers! ... but I'm happy - I prevailed! (after a much longer fight than I had hoped)

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Is it possible to install rootkits on a 64bits Windows 7 ? Just wondering ... hope MS was smart and removed that possibility.

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For those who are wondering - I scanned with SUPERantispyware - Malwarebyte's Antimalware - Spybot S&D - Ad-Aware Free - Microsoft Security Essentials - ALL missed it and said the system was clean.

It took RootkitRevealer and ComboFix to actually get rid of it (well.. so far)

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Nobody cares ... I know ... I'm just so happy to finally be rid of it! 

[Najemikon]

 

Well done! Thanks for the links. Always good to keep ones arsenal up to date.

[Touti]

Is it possible to install rootkits on a 64bits Windows 7 ? Just wondering ... hope MS was smart and removed that possibility.

This suggests that it is possible.

http://www.dslreports.com/forum/r24015106-Rootkit-rootkitagent-and-win7-64bit

[Dragonfire]

I have a potentially stupid question here....  is a rootkit like a virus?

[DJ Doena]

I have a potentially stupid question here....  is a rootkit like a virus?

Yes and no. Both are malware but they fullfil different purposes. Computer viruses in the original sense have become rare (because they had no real purpose but to reproduce and spread) and were replaced by programs like worms, rootkits and trojans which gain control over your computer and misuse it to do certain tasks (like becoming a spam bot zombie).

[Dragonfire]

Ahh..ok.  Thanks for the information.

[gardibolt]

Lots of video games contain rootkits (I know Command & Conquer 3 and Medieval Total War: Kingdoms had them), and Sony caught a lot of heat for their music CDs that had rootkits.  It's not just hackers; the mega-corporations are doing this to you too.