Fraudulent Tech Support Call
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I know we've discussed this before, but what are your feelings on reinstallation for malware/virus/etc infections?
I have never had to do a full reinstall, but every case I have seen have just been searchbars or whatever gone crazy. Not like clicking a fraudulent link.
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@BRRABill said:
I know we've discussed this before, but what are your feelings on reinstallation for malware/virus/etc infections?
I have never had to do a full reinstall, but every case I have seen have just been searchbars or whatever gone crazy. Not like clicking a fraudulent link.
If you have never done a full install, then all those systems are still compromised. I hope your people like identity fraud.
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As @dafyre and @scottalanmiller stated,..
Nuke it from Orbit.
save your data, and completely nuke it.
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@BRRABill said:
I had a user come to me with a parent who fell victim to one of the "your computer is infected" type scams.
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Not your problem
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I would recommend a complete wipe and nothing less.
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No, that is definitely the recommendation here for this user.
I am just saying I don't think that needs to be the case on every malware case.
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@BRRABill said:
I know we've discussed this before, but what are your feelings on reinstallation for malware/virus/etc infections?
My take on it is: reinstall, every time.
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@IRJ said:
- Not your problem
I know but I am the rare IT person who helps friends, family, and co-workers.
I know I am in the minority.
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@BRRABill said:
@IRJ said:
- Not your problem
I know but I am the rare IT person who helps friends, family, and co-workers.
I know I am in the minority.
Why? Do they offer to do free labor on your car when it needs maintenance?
People understand mechanics don't work for free, but for some reason they think IT people should
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@BRRABill said:
I have never had to do a full reinstall, but every case I have seen have just been searchbars or whatever gone crazy.
You mean just bloatware? That's not the same. You can argue, and I'll agree, that bloatware is kind of malicious in a very light way (like how you might maliciously step on someone's toe or bump into them or not let them onto the highway from the ramp - "little" malicious) but it's not malicious in an illegal way and relies on tricking the customer as to what they "want" not as to "what they think they are getting." It's a bit different. It's malicious like a salesman can be malicious - hurting you to the extent of honesty.
But with bloatware itself, you don't need to reinstall, just remove. Some malware hides as bloatware, but malware can hide as anything so that's not a good guideline.
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@IRJ said:
Why? Do they offer to do free labor on your car when it needs maintenance?
People understand mechanics don't work for free, but for some reason they think IT people should
I have friends that are mechanics that work on my car for free. I give them free IT stuff.
I just know a lot of people who help each other out.
I'm a member of a "Pay It Forward" group, too.
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@BRRABill said:
I am just saying I don't think that needs to be the case on every malware case.
So where do you draw the line? At which times that someone has almost certainly had their identity and access compromised do you recommend remaining at risk and not taking the most basic precautions? How do you know which times they were just stealing bandwidth and not stealing bank data?
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@BRRABill said:
I have friends that are mechanics that work on my car for free. I give them free IT stuff.
That's not free at all, that's bartering.
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@BRRABill said:
@IRJ said:
Why? Do they offer to do free labor on your car when it needs maintenance?
People understand mechanics don't work for free, but for some reason they think IT people should
I have friends that are mechanics that work on my car for free. I give them free IT stuff.
I just know a lot of people who help each other out.
I'm a member of a "Pay It Forward" group, too.
In my experience bartering is rarely fair in the long run. Especially when people think. Oh he is just sitting at a computer for an hour.
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@scottalanmiller said:
So where do you draw the line? At which times that someone has almost certainly had their identity and access compromised do you recommend remaining at risk and not taking the most basic precautions? How do you know which times they were just stealing bandwidth and not stealing bank data?
I don't know. That is my question, I guess.
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@scottalanmiller said:
That's not free at all, that's bartering.
Well to be fair, they started working on my car long before I started helping with their computer.
Maybe I'm just lucky to know helpful people.
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@BRRABill said:
I don't know. That is my question, I guess.
But unless you have a really solid answer, when would you not reinstall?
I'd happy recommend not reinstalling when there is no risk. I just have no means of knowing when that is so will never make that recommendation.
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@BRRABill said:
Has anyone had this actually happen to someone they knew?
yep this happened to a customer 2 weeks ago. I nuked that thing so fast!!
You can never trust that computer again! You KNOW that it was used/installed on by an untrusted actor. You can never know if you get a root kit out completely short of formatting it and starting over..
And sadly, even that isn't good enough.. as the NSA has software that can install itself into the firmware of some HDDs (and maybe SDDs).
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@Dashrender said:
And sadly, even that isn't good enough.. as the NSA has software that can install itself into the firmware of some HDDs (and maybe SDDs).
And maybe BIOS.
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@scottalanmiller said:
@BRRABill said:
I know we've discussed this before, but what are your feelings on reinstallation for malware/virus/etc infections?
My take on it is: reinstall, every time.
Let's say that again for good measure - Every Time.
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I guess this also comes into play if you can easily do it.
If the infection doesn't seem all that severe and they are home users (without an image, backups, whatever) I typically use one of the sites that specialize in disinfecting these machines, and feel pretty confident.
I'm not saying there isn't a possibility of a problem.
