Must Have - Zimuse Removal Tool

After a day identified and studying the behavior of Zimuse worm, BitDefender has wrap a conclusion and released Zimuse Removal Tool for users to clean thoroughly all Zimuse traces from their infected computers.

As stated by BitDefender, Zimuse runs stealthy inside the infected computer, until the countdown ends where it began to attack and then everything is too late. So, users can use this tool to check whether their computers are already infected by Zimuse or not and of course the sooner you know is better than later.

Here is the official documentation on Zimuse worm released by BitDefender:

What are the other names for Worm.Zimuse.A?

Trojan.Startpage.G, Win32/Zimuse.A or Worm:Win32/Zumes.A!sys

What are the symptoms? How do I find out if I have Worm.Zimuse.A on my PC?

Presence of the following files
* %system32%\drivers\mstart.sys
* %system32%\drivers\mseu.sys

A technical description of Worm.Zimuse.A:

The malware comes as an application with a WinZip icon in order to trick the user into running it. To look even more as a a self-extracting archive it displays a dialog box asking for a password in order to successfully unzip the package contents.
Once executed the application checks the command line parameters and if there is a switch '/Z' then it proceeds to delete all the files , all the registry keys it and all the services it has created during a previous infection.

If no disinfection switch is given then it takes the following actions:
* it checks if it's set to run at startup up, by checking the presence of a key named 'Dump' in HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run.
* if no previous infection is found then it infects the computer.

Infection of the computer consists in:
* dropping the files
- %system32%\drivers\mstart.sys and creates and runs a service named 'mstart' from this file;
- %program-files%\Dump\dump.exe"
- %Temp%\Dump.ini
- %Temp%\Regini.exe
- %system32%\drivers\mstart.sys
- %system32%\drivers\mseu.sys
- %Temp%\mseu.ini (used for installation of mseu.sys service)
- %system32%\mseus.exe
- %Temp%\mseus.ini (used for installation of mseus.exe service)
- %system32%\tokset.dll
- %system32%\ainf.inf
- %Temp%\instdrv.exe (which is a clean file used to install services)
- %system_drive%\IQTest\iqtest.exe (in some versions)
- %system_drive%\IQTest\readme.txt (in some versions)

* sets dump.exe file dropped earlier to run at startup (this is the flag of infection)
* deletes the following files (which were used for services instalation)
- %Temp%\Regini.exe
- %Temp%\Dump.ini
- %Temp%\mseu.ini
- %Temp%\mseus.ini
- %Temp%\instdrv.exe

Worm.Zimuse.A Removal Instructions:

Malware Alert!! Win32.Worm.Zimuse.A - The Hard Disk Wrecker

This is a must-read article from BitDefender Malware City Blog about a new nasty e-threat posted on January 25th 2010. Here it goes:

BitDefender has identified a new e-threat that combines the destructive behavior of a virus with the spreading mechanisms of a worm. Two variants are known to this day.

Called Win32.Worm.Zimuse.A, this malicious piece is extremely dangerous, unlike average worms, it would lead to severe data loss as it overwrites the first 50 KB of the Master Boot Record, a key zone of the hard disk drive.

Win32.Worm.Zimuse.A enters the computer disguised as an apparently harmless 'IQ Test'. Once executed, the worm creates between seven and eleven copies of itself (depending on the variant) in critical areas of the Windows system.

In order to execute itself on each Windows boot-up, the worm sets the following registry entry:

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run]"Dump"="%programfiles%\Dump\Dump.exe"

And also creates two driver files, namely %system%\drivers\Mstart.sys and %system%\drivers\Mseu.sys.

The really unfortunate thing about this worm is the fact that in its early stages, it's almost impossible for users to become aware that the system has fallen victim to this e-threat. If a certain number of days have elapsed since the infection (40 days for variant A and 20 days for variant B), users will receives an unusual system error message pops-up on the screen and on the next restart will represent with the fatal moment of the computer, nothing else to do, it's too late, the damaged is done .

Editor's Pick : Free SUPERAntiSpyware Portable Scanner - Fight Viruses When AntiVirus Can't Do

In a certain situation when virus infects user's computer, AntiVirus programs lost the ability to functioning due to a very nasty infections. Users also unable to execute the programs to clean their infected computers. When users tries to, the similar notification like an image below pops-up.



Users certainly out of ideas when something happened like that and the only thing that circulating in their minds is reinstall/reformat the OS (Operating System). But wait, don't give up yet, you have a way to clean up your computers even the installed AntiVirus programs has been disabled. Yes, think on portability, most of viruses can't stop the executions of portable programs and this is why some major AntiVirus developer created a portable virus removal tools for users to fight this kind of infections.

Some was created only for a certain infections and some with a full virus database signatures similar to a normal AntiVirus programs enables user to perform a full virus clean up on their infected computers. One of the best of these programs and also a freeware is SUPERAntiSpyware Portable Scanner.

Warning!! Latest Threats - Beware Of Trojan Crawling Through Your Yahoo Mail

In the last entire week, I received an email containing the attachment in ZIP file from the same sender, two or three emails a day and what exasperate me is that it contains a VIRUS!!

The email content are as follows:

Dear customer!

The courier company was not able to deliver your parcel by your address.
Cause: Error in shipping address.

You may pickup the parcel at our post office personaly!

Please attention!
The shipping label is attached to this e-mail.
Please print this label to get this package at our post office.

Please do not reply to this e-mail, it is an unmonitored mailbox.

Thank you.
United Parcel Service.

That email was came from 'UPS Manager Bill Baxter' (I don't think so!!) and sent using 'parcel@ups.com', an attachment named something like 'UPS_Label_NRxxxx.zip'. Thank GOD!! ESET NOD32 AntiVirus able to detect that attachment as 'Win32/Kryptik.BUW trojan' and delete it.

I kept getting the same email continuously two or three times a day, so I blocked it forever. But today, I received another one: