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Published Feb 10, 2008 | Updated Sep 15, 2017

Virus:Win32/Virut.AB

Detected by Microsoft Defender Antivirus

Aliases: Win32/Virut (AVG) W32.Virut-14 (Clam AV) Virus.Win32.Virut.as (Kaspersky) W32/Virut.gen.a (McAfee) W32.Virut.W (Symantec) PE_VIRUT.JN (Trend Micro) Win32.Virut.Gen.4 (VirusBuster)

Summary

Virus:Win32/Virut.AB is a polymorphic appending virus that infects .EXE and .SCR files. Win32/Virut.AB may additionally connect with a remote Internet Relay Chat (IRC) server and await commands, allowing a remote attacker to download and execute arbitrary files on the infected computer.
To detect this threat and other malicious software that may have been installed, run a full-system scan with an up-to-date antivirus product such as the Microsoft Safety Scanner (http://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=212742). For more information, see http://www.microsoft.com/protect/computer/viruses/vista.mspx.
 
Note: The method of infection used by Win32/Virut can damage some infected files beyond repair. In these cases, in order to return a machine to its pre-infected state, it may be necessary to install a clean backup of the operating system and associated applications. 
 
Recovering from recurring infections on a network
The following additional steps may need to be taken to completely remove this threat from an infected network, and to stop infections from recurring from this and other similar types of network-spreading malware:
 
  1. Ensure that an antivirus product is installed on ALL machines connected to the network that can access or host shares  (see above for further detail).
  2. Ensure that all available network shares are scanned with an up-to-date antivirus product.
  3. Restrict permissions as appropriate for network shares on your network. For more information on simple access control, please see: [url]http://technet.microsoft.com/library/bb456977.aspx.
  4. Remove any unnecessary network shares or mapped drives.
 
Note: Additionally it may be necessary to temporarily change the permission on network shares to read-only until the disinfection process is complete.
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