You might have heard about the Shamoon virus over the last few days. It’s a dangerous virus that has been affecting computers across the Middle East and other parts of the world. Although it’s largely concentrated in Middle Eastern computer networks (particularly corporate networks), Shamoon has been spotted on computers in western countries as well.
“Shamoon” is the Arabic word for Simon. However, it would be incorrect to label Shamoon as a “Simple Simon” virus. In fact, Shamoon is fairly complicated. It copies itself deep into a system’s most essential files and replicates itself on PCs across the network. If any folders are shared across multiple computers, Shamoon will instantly infect those as well.
Computers infected with the Shamoon virus will instantly start running a process after the PC starts up. This process is called TrkSvr and it appears to monitor everything users do on their PCs. Since the virus replicates itself across corporate networks, it seems particularly interested in stealing business data, including user accounts, passwords, and other data.
Targeted attacks
As of yet, it doesn’t appear that Shamoon is horribly contagious. Instead, it appears to be spread only through targeted attacks, which could mean that a network of hackers is behind Shamoon. Or, it could mean that a nation-state is to blame – as was the case with the Flame and Stuxnet viruses reportedly created by Israel and the United States over the last few years.
Fixing Shamoon
If you’re worried about being infected with Shamoon, then you’re missing the point of this virus. Instead of targeting individual consumers around the world, Shamoon is more interested in targeting corporate networks. The largest attack so far occurred on Saudi Aramco’s corporate network. Saudi Aramco operates the world’s largest hydrocarbon network and owns two of the world’s largest oil fields.
However, if you want your computers to be kept as secure as possible, it never hurts to seek additional protection. Try downloading PC Cleaner Pro to scan your system for errors today.