Submitted by Ken Dwight on
The latest variant of the widespread FBI Moneypak virus has become one of the most difficult malware challenges facing the IT support tech in recent years. The main source of this difficulty is the fact that the malware disables the boot options on the infected computer. Thus the tech is unable to boot into Safe Mode or Safe Mode with Command Prompt.
Following extensive research and communications with some of the leading anti-virus vendors in the world, The Virus Doctor™ has developed a simple, mostly automated procedure that cleans these infections in about 10 minutes. This procedure and the tools necessary to carry it out are now included in the Virus Remediation Training workshops.
In the absence of a procedure such as this, most technicians have been dealing with this malware in one of three ways:
- Booting from a CD into a non-Windows environment and running their removal tools from there
- Removing the hard drive from the infected computer and slaving it to another computer to be cleaned
- Wiping and reloading the system from scratch, possibly losing any programs or user data files on the infected computer
Obviously, none of these choices are desirable. They may or may not be effective, and they certainly will take a significant investment of time to complete. In many cases the time spent on a cleanup using one of these methods will be more than the client will pay for, leaving the shop to absorb a large part of the time required to satisfy the client’s needs.
The solution taught in the Virus Remediation Training workshop took many hours and multiple attempts to perfect. In the end it involved an undocumented feature of a little-known feature in a program most people have never heard of. In other words, you won’t find this solution by doing a Google search!
Past graduates of the Virus Remediation Training workshop who are enrolled in the Continuing Malware Education program will automatically receive this solution and the tools required to implement it. If you have completed the class more than one year ago and would like to stay updated on the ongoing developments in the malware arena, you may participate in the CME program for a nominal annual fee. Contact The Virus Doctor™ for details.