FBI Ransomware/ZeroAccess Preventative Measures

[Brandon138]

Hello Forum,

I have been seeing a ton of posts about this FBI Ransomware and Zeroaccess Viruses or whatever they are, and for the first time in as long as I can remember, I am really concerned about my PC's safety, as two of my closest friends just contracted these viruses.

They seem really nasty, they could only get into their machines through safe mode, and even then could not do anything. One of them even reinstalled his operating system, only to find out that somehow Zeroaccess was able to reset itself and reinstall. I have never heard of anything like that before, whoever wrote these viruses seems to really know their stuff.

So I thought I might start this thread to see if anyone had any advice as to the best preventative measures one can take to A.) Avoid getting these viruses (the best software to have installed to prevent it) and B.) if you contract the virus, the best method known to remove it completely, as I have never heard of a virus being able to reset and reinstall itself again after wiping and reinstalling your operating system.

As for me, I run Avast free edition, Malwarebytes Pro, SuperAntiSpyware free edition, and SlimCleaner as my preventative software. I have all my important data double backed up on separate external hard drives. I have also created System repair disks and System recovery disks a while back, as I have been told that doing a normal system recovery directly through your PC can often prove ineffective, as Ransomware and ZeroAccess usually survive it.

I was wondering what else you Gurus would recommend in terms of installed software to prevent, and tactics you can employ to fight it if you become infected. I figure a lot of people would want to know this, but especially myself.

 

[gied]

If you are serious about security, disable Java in your browsers and, probably Flash too and browse with limited account (not administrator user).

 

[Borg 386]

If you're using Firefox, there is a add-on called NoScript, which can stop most drive by malware.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/noscript/

 

[Brandon138]

If you're using Firefox, there is a add-on called NoScript, which can stop most drive by malware.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/noscript/

Added on noscript as you said, thanks for the advice, I also was thinking did what the other gentlemen said about java, I was thinking about removing java altogether, because i have had issues with in in the past. But if I disable flash too, how would I be able to watch streaming videos on youtube and other sites?

 

[Borg 386]

If you don't need Java to run anything on your PC, then you may as well remove it since it's a security risk. There is another plug-in which you can use to control flash as well as several other browser functions. If you disable flash, you won't be able to play most games/videos, this plug-in allows you to control several items from your browser bar & you can turn them off/on as needed without having to dig through the controls.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-us/firefox/addon/quickjava/

Allows quick enable and disable of Java, Javascript, Cookies, Image Animations, Flash, Silverlight, Images, Stylesheets and Proxy from the Statusbar and/or Toolbar.

Easily turn on or off Java, Javascript, Cookies, Animated Images, Flash, Silverlight, Stylesheets, Proxy and Automatic loading of images from the Statusbar and/or the Toolbar without having to open the Options or Plugins dialog!

 

[Brandon138]

Thanks Jorg, sounds like a good thing to have, going to look into it right away.