Speaker 1: You know that feeling your computer screen just freezes up,
Speaker 1: and then this weird pop up appears, looks like it's
Speaker 1: from Window Security, but it's demanding a bitcoin to unlock
Speaker 1: your files.
Speaker 2: Oh yeah, that immediate panic.
Speaker 1: It's a horrible feeling exactly. And while that fear of
Speaker 1: your own PC getting hit is totally valid, what if
Speaker 1: I told you that's just well the tip of a
Speaker 1: much much bigger digital iceberg.
Speaker 2: That's right, Malware today isn't just about one machine. It's
Speaker 2: targeting whole networks, servers, stealing really personal data.
Speaker 1: It's evolve into a massive industry, right, especially with ransomware.
Speaker 1: The stakes are incredibly.
Speaker 2: High, millions sometimes billions involved.
Speaker 1: Welcome to the deep dive. This is where we take
Speaker 1: expert sources, cut through the noise and pull out the
Speaker 1: key insights to get you informed fast.
Speaker 2: And today we're diving into the let's say, fascinating and
Speaker 2: sometimes pretty terrifying world of Windows malware.
Speaker 1: Yeah, our mission here is really for you, the curious learner.
Speaker 1: We want to demystify these threats, give you the knowledge
Speaker 1: not just to defend you, but also crucially how to
Speaker 1: spot them and get rid of them if they do
Speaker 1: strike and our.
Speaker 2: Main guide for this is a really solid source Windows
Speaker 2: Virus and Malware Troubleshooting by Microsoft MVPs Andrew Bettany and
Speaker 2: Mike Halsey.
Speaker 1: So we're going to dig into some surprising history, look
Speaker 1: at the threats we face right now, and get beyond
Speaker 1: those scary headlines to you know, practical understanding and actual solutions.
Speaker 1: Ready to jump in.
Speaker 2: Let's do it. What's really interesting when you look back
Speaker 2: is where computer viruses actually started. It might surprise you
Speaker 2: not Windows then, No, not initially the very earliest ones,
Speaker 2: believe it or not, for Apple two and macintos systems.
Speaker 2: They'd write themselves onto the boots sector of floppy discs.
Speaker 1: Floppy discs wow, so every time you use the disc.
Speaker 2: And go it executed. Sneaky stuff even back then.
Speaker 1: But then came the IBM PC and MS DOSS and
Speaker 1: personal computer started popping up everywhere, especially in businesses, and.
Speaker 2: That's when things really took off. Virus wise. They were
Speaker 2: tiny programs back then, often doing well, almost quaint things.
Speaker 1: Like that story about the virus playing Yankee Doodle Dandy
Speaker 1: every day at five pm on an old Olive EDDYPC
Speaker 1: back in ninety one. Seems almost terming.
Speaker 2: Now agrease simpler times, definitely, but things escalated pretty fast.
Speaker 2: The Morris worm late eighty eight. That was a real
Speaker 2: turning point. The first Internet virus.
Speaker 1: Essentially written by a student, wasn't it yeah.
Speaker 2: Cornell grad student. It wasn't actually meant to be harmful
Speaker 2: to see how big the Internet was. But a mistake
Speaker 2: in the code, oh yeah, it turned it infectious, became
Speaker 2: a denial of service attack by accident, basically took down
Speaker 2: thousands of computers. Huge cleanup job.
Speaker 1: And we've seen some incredibly destructive ones since. Stuck snit
Speaker 1: for instance, targeting Iran's nuclear program that was huge, news, huge.
Speaker 2: And code read back in two thousand and one. That
Speaker 2: thing was infecting what over three hundred thousand computers a day,
Speaker 2: defacing websites, launching attacks. It really felt like the Wild West.
Speaker 1: Online, It really did. And this is where we see
Speaker 1: that big shift you mentioned earlier, right, the motivation change.
Speaker 2: Exactly stop being about just getting famous or proving you
Speaker 2: could do it, and became curely about money, cold hard cash.
Speaker 1: Enter the bots and ransomware.
Speaker 2: Precisely, bots are like these hidden agents. They can infect thousands,
Speaker 2: millions of computers. And just sit there waiting waiting for
Speaker 2: what for instructions, Control of these botnets get sold on
Speaker 2: the dark web. They use them for well, all sorts
Speaker 2: of things, key logging, to steal your passwords, creating backdoors
Speaker 2: into systems, launching massive DDUS attacks to crash websites.
Speaker 1: DDAs distributed denial of service that's where they flood a
Speaker 1: site with traffic.
Speaker 2: That's the one overwhelm it completely.
Speaker 1: And then ransomware that's the one that really gives people nightmares,
Speaker 1: individuals and businesses alike.
Speaker 2: Oh absolutely, Imagine all your files, your photos, your documents
Speaker 2: just locked up encrypted and you get this demand for
Speaker 2: bitcoin to maybe get them back.
Speaker 1: And businesses are paying.
Speaker 2: Sources say yes, hundreds of millions are made this way
Speaker 2: every year. Universities, hospitals, big companies, even government agencies. They
Speaker 2: often pay quietly because the cost of downtime is even higher.
Speaker 1: It's a horrible calculation to have to make, it really is.
Speaker 2: And it's important to remember malware isn't just a Windows problem.
Speaker 2: It's everywhere Android, iOS, mac os.
Speaker 1: But Windows is the main focus for today's deep dive
Speaker 1: just because it's so widely used.
Speaker 2: Right though, it's worth noting those newer ARM based Windows
Speaker 2: ten systems, they are generally a bit less susceptible, more
Speaker 2: modern architecture, but not immune, not totally immune, no, because
Speaker 2: they can still run older legacy Windows code, and that's
Speaker 2: often what malware targets.
Speaker 1: And looking forward, the Internet of Things IoT, that's a
Speaker 1: whole new frontier, isn't it.
Speaker 2: It is smart fridges, cameras, dermostats. A lot of these
Speaker 2: devices have pretty weak security out of the box, default passwords, things.
Speaker 1: Like that, so they become an easy way into your network.
Speaker 2: Potentially, yes, a gateway for attackers to get to your
Speaker 2: more important devices like your PC or your phone.
Speaker 1: So if operating systems like Windows are getting more secure
Speaker 1: all the time, why are we still seeing so many infections?
Speaker 1: What's the gap?
Speaker 2: That's a great question. Historically, Yeah, older OS versions like
Speaker 2: early Windows, had real security flaws. Malware could just run
Speaker 2: sometimes automatically.
Speaker 1: That's why Mac and Unix always felt safer back then,
Speaker 1: less admin writes by default, that was a big.
Speaker 2: Part of it. Yes, but modern Windows, say from Vista onwards,
Speaker 2: really up the game. Features like user count control, UAC,
Speaker 2: secure mood. They made a huge difference.
Speaker 1: So the attackers changed tactics they had to.
Speaker 2: They shifted focus from just exploiting technical bugs in the
Speaker 2: OS to exploiting well leus human psychology. How so, malware
Speaker 2: started dressing up as something harmless or useful or even.
Speaker 1: Fun like what give me an example.
Speaker 2: Think about needing a special video codec to watch something online,
Speaker 2: or downloading a pirated app that promises all the features
Speaker 2: for free, or maybe even something that looks like a
Speaker 2: Windows update, but you got it from some random website.
Speaker 1: Ah okay. So it relies on tricking the user.
Speaker 2: Exactly, and this is where you become the weakest link. Potentially.
Speaker 2: People are busy, they're tired, maybe just curious. You click
Speaker 2: allow on a security prompt without really reading it, or.
Speaker 1: You grant admin rights just to make that annoying pop
Speaker 1: up go away or get that cat video to play right.
Speaker 2: And the scary thing is one person granting those rights
Speaker 2: can open the door for malware to spread across an
Speaker 2: entire company network, accessing shared files and resources.
Speaker 1: So the defense isn't just technical anymore.
Speaker 2: Not solely. No, The two biggest defenses are one technically
Speaker 2: preventing users from just running any old code or installing
Speaker 2: random software, and two maybe even more important education training
Speaker 2: people on what's safe to click and what definitely isn't.
Speaker 1: It really makes you stop and think, doesn't it. How
Speaker 1: often do we really read those prompts before clicking yes
Speaker 1: or install. It's a habit we probably all.
Speaker 2: Need to work on definitely.
Speaker 1: Now, we've been using the term malware as a catch all,
Speaker 1: but there are different types, right, What are the main
Speaker 1: distinctions we should understand?
Speaker 2: You're right, it's an umbrella term. Malware covers a lot
Speaker 2: of ground. The key types often different in how they
Speaker 2: spread or what they.
Speaker 1: Do, Like viruses versus worms. What's the difference there.
Speaker 2: It's mainly about propagation, how they get around. A virus
Speaker 2: needs help to spread, like attaching itself to a file
Speaker 2: that you then share, maybe on a USB stick or
Speaker 2: email attachment, physical contact.
Speaker 1: Almost like a biological virus pretty much.
Speaker 2: A worm, on the other hand, is designed to spread
Speaker 2: by itself across a network. It burrows from one computer
Speaker 2: to another, replicating as it goes, without needing you to
Speaker 2: actively share a file.
Speaker 1: Okay, so that's how they spread. What about what they
Speaker 1: actually do once they're inside? Let's talk about the ones
Speaker 1: that steal information.
Speaker 2: Spyware spyware does exactly what it says on the tin.
Speaker 2: It spies on you, gathers information about what you do
Speaker 2: online maybe offline too, often includes a keylogger.
Speaker 1: Keylogger records everything I type.
Speaker 2: YEP, passwords, bank details, private messages, then sends it all
Speaker 2: back to whoever created the spyware. Pretty nasty stuff.
Speaker 1: And adwere that sounds less harmful?
Speaker 2: Generally? Yes, AdWords mostly about showing you unwanted ads usually
Speaker 2: pop ups annoying, but rarely a direct threat, unlike unless
Speaker 2: it comes bundled with something else, like a keylogger hidden inside.
Speaker 2: So even seemingly harmless adware can be risky.
Speaker 1: Okay, got it? What about trojans trojan horses?
Speaker 2: Right? These disguise themselves as legitimate software, could be anything
Speaker 2: a Kodak, a browser plug in. Maybe that powered app
Speaker 2: we mentioned looks fine on the outside, took inside it's
Speaker 2: carrying a hidden, malicious payload. Once you install the useful thing,
Speaker 2: the nasty bit gets installed too.
Speaker 1: And it was technically a Greek horse, not trojan you
Speaker 1: mentioned well grease Yeah.
Speaker 2: Yeah, pedantic point, But the principle of deception is identical.
Speaker 1: Deception is key, and that leads us to bots right,
Speaker 1: creating these botnets exactly.
Speaker 2: Bots infect machines, thousands, sometimes millions of them and turn
Speaker 2: them into a kind of zombie army, a botnet.
Speaker 3: And these botnets are used for often for those D
Speaker 3: Days attacks we talked about flooding websites, but they almost
Speaker 3: always have keyloggers and back doors built into for stealing
Speaker 3: data or taking remote control.
Speaker 2: Microsoft and law enforcement have actually had some success taking
Speaker 2: down major bot nets, which is good news.
Speaker 1: That is good news. Now, root kits and bootkits some
Speaker 1: particularly nasty.
Speaker 2: They are. They dig in really deep, hiding in the
Speaker 2: boot partitions of your hard drive. Basically, they load before
Speaker 2: your operating system.
Speaker 1: Even starts, so they're hidden from normal security software.
Speaker 2: Often, yes, they can gain complete control of the system
Speaker 2: while staying invisible. That's why things like Intel's Secure boot
Speaker 2: are so important.
Speaker 1: Secure boot checks the digital signatures during startup right.
Speaker 2: It verifies the firmware and the OS itself before loading.
Speaker 2: If something's been tampered with, like by a bootkit, it
Speaker 2: ideally shouldn't start.
Speaker 1: But you mentioned that can be an issue for older
Speaker 1: OT's like Windows seven or Linux.
Speaker 2: Yeah, they don't always support secure boot natively without some
Speaker 2: configuration changes, so some users might disable it, which unfortunately
Speaker 2: opens the door for these kinds of attacks.
Speaker 1: Back Doors are they separate things or part of these
Speaker 1: other malware types.
Speaker 2: Often part of others. A backdoor is just what it
Speaker 2: sounds like, a hidden way for someone to get remote
Speaker 2: access and control your PC later bypassing all the normal
Speaker 2: security checks, give them access to your files, your network.
Speaker 1: Okay. And finally, ransomware the big one, the.
Speaker 2: Most unpleasant, definitely and often the most financially damaging. It
Speaker 2: encrypts your files, documents, photos, videos.
Speaker 1: Everything, scrambles theme completely, makes.
Speaker 2: Them totally inaccessible. Sometimes it encrypts the entire disc or
Speaker 2: the file directory system itself, the master list of where
Speaker 2: everything is then pops up the demand for bitcoin for
Speaker 2: the decryption key.
Speaker 1: And because we SINNC everything to the cloud now it.
Speaker 2: Can spread fast, encrypt files on your network drives, even
Speaker 2: in your cloud storage if it sinks fast enough. And
Speaker 2: as we said, organizations often pay up.
Speaker 1: Why do they pay just the cost of recovery?
Speaker 2: Often yeah, downtime, data loss. It can be catastrophic. The
Speaker 2: criminals know this. They price the ransom accordingly high, but
Speaker 2: maybe just low enough to make paying seem like the
Speaker 2: lesser evil.
Speaker 1: But paying doesn't always guarantee you get your files back
Speaker 1: right or that it's over exactly.
Speaker 2: Sometimes the decryption key doesn't work, or worse, the key
Speaker 2: itself contains another piece of malware. It's a truly vicious cycle.
Speaker 1: Okay, so that's a pretty grim picture of the threats.
Speaker 1: How do we actually start defending ourselves? What's the approach?
Speaker 2: The core concept is defense in depth, think layers, not
Speaker 2: just one big wall, right, because even the best single solution,
Speaker 2: say just an antivirus, can potentially be lie passed. You
Speaker 2: need multiple layers of protection that back each other up.
Speaker 2: Redundancy is key.
Speaker 1: And Microsoft has built a lot of these layers directly
Speaker 1: into Windows, now, haven't.
Speaker 2: They They really have, Especially in Windows seven, eight point
Speaker 2: one to ten. You've got the Security Center or Security
Speaker 2: of Maintenance in Windows ten that's your main dashboard.
Speaker 1: The traffic light system green, amber, red, YEP.
Speaker 2: Gives you a quick visual check. Green is good, Amber
Speaker 2: means check something, Red means there's a problem. Like your
Speaker 2: anti viruses offer out of date.
Speaker 1: And User Account control UAC. You mentioned that earlier.
Speaker 2: Yeah, UAC is like your first line of defense against
Speaker 2: unauthorized changes when something tries to install software or change
Speaker 2: system settings, UAC pops up that prompt in a secure environment.
Speaker 1: Secure environment, what does that mean?
Speaker 2: It means the rest of the desktop is dimmed and inactive,
Speaker 2: so malware can't like hijack your mouse quick and approve itself.
Speaker 2: It's designed to make you consciously interact with the prompt.
Speaker 1: Clever and the built in firewall.
Speaker 2: Windows Firewall is actually very effective. A lot of companies
Speaker 2: still use third party ones, maybe for centralized management, but
Speaker 2: the built in one, especially the Advanced firewall, gives you
Speaker 2: really granular control over which app supports and services can communicate.
Speaker 1: What about the Malicious Software Removal Tool MSRT? Is that
Speaker 1: the main antivirus?
Speaker 2: No think if MSRT is an extra cleanup tool. It
Speaker 2: targets specific, really widespread major threats. Microsoft updates it every
Speaker 2: month through Windows Update. It runs quietly in the background usually,
Speaker 2: but you can download and run it manually if you
Speaker 2: suspect something nasty got through.
Speaker 1: And Windows Update itself is crucial for security.
Speaker 2: Absolutely essential, not just for features, but for patching vulnerabilities
Speaker 2: that malware exploits. Windows ten make security and stability updates
Speaker 2: mandatory for this reason.
Speaker 1: Though you can delay some updates. In pro and enterprise versions, you.
Speaker 2: Can defer the big feature updates for a while. Yeah yeah,
Speaker 2: but those critical security patches they come through regardless, which
Speaker 2: is important.
Speaker 1: Okay, let's talk about protecting the startup process. That seems
Speaker 1: like a really vulnerable time.
Speaker 2: BitLocker BitLocker drive encryption is fantastic, especially on laptops available
Speaker 2: in pro and enterprise editions. It encrypts your entire.
Speaker 1: Hard drive, so if someone steals my laptop, they can't
Speaker 1: just pull out.
Speaker 2: The hard drive and read your data. Even when the
Speaker 2: PC is signed out, the drive stays locked. It's like
Speaker 2: a digital safe for your data at rest.
Speaker 1: Really important and secure boot. We touched on that regarding.
Speaker 2: Bootcuts right developed by Intel mandatory since Windows A point
Speaker 2: one on new PCs. It's that digital bouncer at the
Speaker 2: door checks the signatures of the firmware and the OS before.
Speaker 1: They load, preventing unauthorized code from running early on.
Speaker 2: Exactly stops malware trying to sneak in before Windows are
Speaker 2: your anti virus is even up and running again. Can
Speaker 2: sometimes need disabling for older ocs or Linux, which is
Speaker 2: a trade off.
Speaker 1: After secure boot, there's trusted boot yes.
Speaker 2: In Windows eight point one to ten, Trusted Boot takes
Speaker 2: over once secure boot is done. It checks the integrity
Speaker 2: of the actual Windows kernel, the core system, files, drivers,
Speaker 2: everything as it loads.
Speaker 1: And if it finds something modified.
Speaker 2: It'll try to repair it automatically. It's another layer ensuring
Speaker 2: the OS hasn't been tampered with before you get to
Speaker 2: your desktop.
Speaker 1: And early launch anti malware.
Speaker 2: Elim ELAM is crucial to It lets your anti virus
Speaker 2: driver load very early in the boot process before potentially
Speaker 2: malicious drivers can. It establishes this chain of trust.
Speaker 1: So it checks drivers against a list.
Speaker 2: Basically, yeah, if a driver isn't digitally signed and trusted,
Speaker 2: ELAM can prevent it from loading, stopping a common way
Speaker 2: malware tries to hook into the system.
Speaker 1: Okay, so that's boot security. What about active protection While
Speaker 1: Windows is running smart Screen?
Speaker 2: Windows smart Screen is an online reputation service. When you
Speaker 2: download a file or visit a website, it checks it
Speaker 2: against Microsoft's constantly updated lists of known malicious sites and files.
Speaker 1: Sounds useful. Any downsides?
Speaker 2: Well, the warnings can sometimes be a bit vague, users
Speaker 2: might just click through them, and unfortunately, it can sometimes
Speaker 2: be disabled fairly easily. In browser settings or Windows Settings
Speaker 2: without triggering a UAC prompt.
Speaker 1: Right. And then there's the main antivirus itself, Windows Defender
Speaker 1: or Security Essentials on Windows seven.
Speaker 2: Yes, Microsoft's free build in anti virus. It used to
Speaker 2: be seen as just basic, but honestly has become quite
Speaker 2: robust and deeply integrated into Windows ten and eleven.
Speaker 1: So it's good enough for most people.
Speaker 2: For baseline protection. Absolutely, it's lightweight, always on. Many businesses
Speaker 2: still opt for third party solutions for more advanced features
Speaker 2: or central management, but Defender is a solid foundation.
Speaker 1: And Defender offline for really tough infections.
Speaker 2: That's a really powerful tool built into Windows ten settings,
Speaker 2: or you can create a bootable USB for other versions.
Speaker 2: It reboots your PC into a special clean environment outside
Speaker 2: of Windows to.
Speaker 1: Scan before the malware can load.
Speaker 2: Exactly, especially good for rootkits that hide from regular scans.
Speaker 2: It scans the drive before the main OS and any
Speaker 2: resident malware has a chance to interfere.
Speaker 1: What about app containers you mentioned those briefly.
Speaker 2: Yeah, this is more about how modern Windows store apps work.
Speaker 2: They run these isolated containers. Think of them like mini
Speaker 2: virtual machines with their own protected storage and memory.
Speaker 1: So if one gets infected, it can't easily.
Speaker 2: Spread precisely, it's sandboxed. Makes those apps much more resilient
Speaker 2: to malware compared to traditional desktop applications.
Speaker 1: And even the PC architecture matters thirty two bit versus
Speaker 1: sixty four.
Speaker 2: Bit it does pretty much. All modern PCs are sixty
Speaker 2: four bit now, and that's generally more secure. Why Mainly
Speaker 2: because sixty four bit Windows requires hardware and software drivers
Speaker 2: to be digitally signed.
Speaker 1: Ah that driver signing thing again, yep.
Speaker 2: Unsigned drivers are a classic way for malware to get
Speaker 2: deep system access, and sixty four bit Windows largely closes
Speaker 2: that door. Plus sixty four bit supports virtualization features better,
Speaker 2: which underpins some security tech.
Speaker 1: Okay, last point on defense, restricting file access. This sounds
Speaker 1: critical for ransomware.
Speaker 2: Absolutely critical, But it's tricky, especially with cloud backups.
Speaker 1: Why tricky? Aren't cloud backups good?
Speaker 2: They are? But think about how ransomware works. It encrypts
Speaker 2: your files instantly, and your cloud backup software it's designed
Speaker 2: to sync changes instantly too.
Speaker 1: Oh no, so it backs up the encrypted files often.
Speaker 2: Yes, Overwriting your good copies in the cloud with the
Speaker 2: useless encrypted versions happens frighteningly. Fast.
Speaker 1: So how do you protect your files in this instant
Speaker 1: sinc world? Is there a reliable way?
Speaker 2: The source strongly suggests the button approach, though not perfect,
Speaker 2: is maintaining a periodic completely offline backup a separate external
Speaker 2: hard drive that you can act back up to and
Speaker 2: then disconnect.
Speaker 1: Completely, the digital equivalent of putting valuables in a separate safe.
Speaker 2: Exactly that, Because yeah, Murphy's low says, the ransomware will
Speaker 2: hit just before your next backup is due, but having
Speaker 2: that offline copy is still your best insurance against total
Speaker 2: data loss.
Speaker 1: Makes sense? Okay, let's shift gears. How do we actually
Speaker 1: recognize when an attack might be happening? What are the signs?
Speaker 2: Well, Windows PCs are still the biggest target right backwards
Speaker 2: compatibility users often running as admin, open networking, just this
Speaker 2: sheer number of users, Yeah, it makes them attractive.
Speaker 1: And the symptoms what should you look out for?
Speaker 2: The common ones are pretty noticeable. Usually your PC suddenly
Speaker 2: gets really slow, lots of unexplained disk activity or network traffic.
Speaker 1: You don't recognize files not opening or opening strangely.
Speaker 2: Yeah, or weird pop ups. Maybe your desktop background changes unexpectedly,
Speaker 2: freaking crashes or hangs. Basically, your computer just starts acting weird,
Speaker 2: not behaving like it normally does.
Speaker 1: Okay, and the source mentioned three main types of viruses
Speaker 1: that cause these infections.
Speaker 2: Broadly speaking, yes, file infectors, boots sector viruses or root kits,
Speaker 2: and macroviruses.
Speaker 1: File infectors attached to other files.
Speaker 2: Right, They latch onto executables like dot ex files. Antivirus
Speaker 2: often catches these by looking for their known signature, a
Speaker 2: unique pattern in their code. Remember that fake scanty example,
Speaker 2: a fake antivirus program.
Speaker 1: Oh yeah, the ones that pop up fake warnings and
Speaker 1: demand money exactly.
Speaker 2: They'd scare you into paying, sometimes even block legitimate programs
Speaker 2: from running. Classic file infector.
Speaker 1: Tactic and root kits and boot sector viruses. We know
Speaker 1: they're hard to detect, very.
Speaker 2: Hard because they load so early, hiding from Windows and
Speaker 2: security software. Their payloads can be nasty backdoors for remote
Speaker 2: access packet sniffers to steal data traveling over your network,
Speaker 2: turning your PC in too part of the DAS botnet.
Speaker 1: This is where that nuke it from orbit quote feels appropriate.
Speaker 2: Agrees pretty much captures the feeling. Yeah, Removing them cleanly
Speaker 2: it can be incredibly difficult. Sometimes a full wipe and
Speaker 2: reinstall is the only guaranteed way.
Speaker 1: And macroviruses I thought they'd died out.
Speaker 2: They did declined for a while after about two thousand.
Speaker 2: Macros were originally for automating tasks in office docs, but
Speaker 2: they've made a comeback. Modern ones use powerful code like VBA.
Speaker 1: Or JavaScript, so they hide in word docks or Excel
Speaker 1: sheets exactly.
Speaker 2: Microsoft puts warnings up now when you open a dock
Speaker 2: with macros, but social engineering tricking you into clicking enable
Speaker 2: content is still effective. Once enabled, they can infect your
Speaker 2: office templates, so every new document you create gets infected too.
Speaker 1: Sneaky, and it comes back to that human factor again.
Speaker 1: Email and the Internet are just delivery mechanism.
Speaker 2: Precisely, they carry the malware, but it needs you to
Speaker 2: click the link, open the attachment, enable the macro. That's
Speaker 2: the activation step.
Speaker 1: And the scams are getting better, more convincing.
Speaker 2: Definitely better wording using graphics from real companies, PDFs that
Speaker 2: look legit but have hidden executables. It's much harder to
Speaker 2: spot the fakes. Sometimes your vigilance is often the last
Speaker 2: line of defense.
Speaker 1: So even with all this protection, why do so many
Speaker 1: PCs still get infected every year more than half.
Speaker 2: You said, it's a frustrating reality. Several reasons. Sometimes the
Speaker 2: antivirus just isn't running, or it's way out of date.
Speaker 2: It's that constant cat and mouse game. New malware variants
Speaker 2: appere daily. Security software has to catch.
Speaker 1: Up old unpatched applications, big.
Speaker 2: Vulnerability, incorrect security configurations, and sometimes weirdly, having multiple antivirus
Speaker 2: programs installed can cause conflicts and actually leave you less
Speaker 2: protected than having one good one running properly.
Speaker 1: And the motivation is now profit, not fame.
Speaker 2: Overwhelmingly profit. Yeah. So malware is designed to be stealthy.
Speaker 2: It uses rootkit techniques to hide and might try to
Speaker 2: disable your security software, and its main goal is usually
Speaker 2: stealing data, your identity or holding your system hostage for ransom.
Speaker 1: And if it gets onto a network, its goals.
Speaker 2: Are usually to establish backdoors for later access, spread to
Speaker 2: other machines on the network, and potentially gain remote control
Speaker 2: for launching wider attacks or stealing more data.
Speaker 1: Are there specific Windows networking features that are often exploited?
Speaker 2: Yeah, vulnerabilities can exist if things aren't locked down properly.
Speaker 2: File sharing protocols like SMB network printers, those hidden administrative shares.
Speaker 2: They can all be potential entry points if not secured.
Speaker 1: Which is why network level security is becoming more important.
Speaker 2: Absolutely, having dedicated appliances or services scanning traffic before it
Speaker 2: even hits individual PCEs adds a really valuable layer. Security
Speaker 2: as a service is a growing area.
Speaker 1: So the ideal is both network protection and endpoint protection
Speaker 1: on each device.
Speaker 2: That's the gold standard. Yes, defense and depth again, cover
Speaker 2: the perimeter and protect the individual nodes.
Speaker 1: Okay, let's talk about where attacks come from. Moster external right,
Speaker 1: the vast majority?
Speaker 2: Yeah, over eighty percent in some reports, things like direct
Speaker 2: attacks on firewalls, DDS attacks, the usual email viruses and ransomware,
Speaker 2: spear phishing and targeted hacking of specific applications.
Speaker 1: Firewall attacks and didos Are they just trying to break
Speaker 1: in or is there more to it?
Speaker 2: Sometimes it's a brute force attempt to find a way.
Speaker 2: In other times didos is used as a distraction, a
Speaker 2: smoke screen, flood the target with traffic to tie up
Speaker 2: their security team while the real attack, maybe data theft,
Speaker 2: happens elsewhere. Remember that rustock botnet two point four million
Speaker 2: infected PCs just pumping out spam and potentially launching attacks
Speaker 2: huge scale, and.
Speaker 1: Email attacks still work depressingly well.
Speaker 2: They do because they target people. Attackers use tricks like
Speaker 2: encrypting or compressing malware attachments to try and sneak past scanners.
Speaker 2: We mentioned crypto Locker extorted thirty million dollars. That shows
Speaker 2: how effective ransomware via email can be.
Speaker 1: How do you even spot ransomware?
Speaker 2: Sometimes often it announces itself pretty loudly with a ransom
Speaker 2: note pop up, but you might also see specific files,
Speaker 2: It creates changes to your system registry keys, or sometimes
Speaker 2: it even changes your desktop wallpaper to the ransom demand,
Speaker 2: like that p clock two example in.
Speaker 1: The source and spearfishing.
Speaker 2: That sounds more targeted, much more target it. It's not
Speaker 2: generic spam. They use information about you, maybe from your
Speaker 2: LinkedIn profile, company, website, social media, to craft a personalized,
Speaker 2: highly believable email or message designed to trick you specifically,
Speaker 2: much harder to spot.
Speaker 1: Then there's hacking specific applications like the talk talk brooch that.
Speaker 2: Was a huge one. Yeah twenty fifteen, a teenager used
Speaker 2: a basic skal injection attack because talk talk had an
Speaker 2: outdated database component on their website, cost them around seventy
Speaker 2: five million dollars in fines in recovery.
Speaker 1: Wow. So it highlights the need to check everything, not
Speaker 1: just the OS.
Speaker 2: Everything all your applications, especially webfacing ones, and critically ensuring
Speaker 2: any third party services or contractors you use meet your
Speaker 2: security standards. Remember the FriendFinder network leak hundreds of millions
Speaker 2: of accounts exposed. Application security is vital.
Speaker 1: Okay, so external threats are huge, but what about attacks
Speaker 1: from inside?
Speaker 2: Internal threats are a serious and sometimes overlooked risk. Malicious
Speaker 2: activity from current or former employees, contractors, even visitors. It
Speaker 2: can be deliberate or purely.
Speaker 1: Accidental, accidental like how.
Speaker 2: The source puts it starkly, human error opens more doors
Speaker 2: to hackers than technical shortcomings. Insiders, intentionally or not, are
Speaker 2: involved in maybe a quarter of all attacks, accidentally clicking
Speaker 2: a fishing link, bringing in an infected USB drive from home,
Speaker 2: ignoring security procedures because they're inconvenient.
Speaker 1: It all comes back to people, it often does.
Speaker 2: And then there's deliberate social engineering from the inside or
Speaker 2: targeting insiders. It's like old school spycraft, manipulating people to
Speaker 2: gain access or information, like.
Speaker 1: Those WWII keep It under your Hat posters, same idea exactly.
Speaker 2: The same psychology. Common tactics today include pretexting, making up
Speaker 2: a believable story to get info, baiting, leaving infected USB drives,
Speaker 2: labeled salaries or something tempting, lying around, tailgating, just physically
Speaker 2: following someone through a secure door.
Speaker 1: And the Ashley Madison hack that was suspected to be internal.
Speaker 2: Strongly suspected yes, and the fallout was devastating because the
Speaker 2: data was so sensitive. Suicide ruined lives. This is a
Speaker 2: stark reminder that for businesses holding that kind of data,
Speaker 2: security has to be paramount almost to any cost because
Speaker 2: the risk is just too high.
Speaker 1: Okay, so defenses attacks. If the worst happens and you
Speaker 1: suspect an infection, what tools does Microsoft provide to help
Speaker 1: you fight back?
Speaker 2: Microsoft actually has a pretty good support ecodsystem. The first
Speaker 2: place to look is often the Malware Protection Center. It's
Speaker 2: their main online security portal. Lots of info, updates, downloads,
Speaker 2: and step by step troubleshooting guides.
Speaker 1: That sounds useful. What else?
Speaker 2: They publish the Microsoft Security Intelligence Report twice a year
Speaker 2: that gives you a really good overview of the latest
Speaker 2: threats and trends. Helps you understand what attackers are doing
Speaker 2: right now?
Speaker 1: Are there tools to check your systems configuration?
Speaker 2: Yes, the Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer MBSA. It's free and
Speaker 2: it scans your system for common security misconfigurations like missing
Speaker 2: security patches or weak user account settings. Surprisingly useful and
Speaker 2: not many people know about it.
Speaker 1: And Windows Defender it self of course.
Speaker 2: Right you're built in antivirus, you can easily go into
Speaker 2: Windows Security Settings to check its status, make sure real
Speaker 2: time protection is on, see what threats it's found in quarantined,
Speaker 2: and manage any false positives where it flags a safe
Speaker 2: file by mistake.
Speaker 1: Beyond the built in stuff, Microsoft offers other tools.
Speaker 2: Yes. Alongside the well known third party options like AVG, Norton, Kasperski,
Speaker 2: et cetera. Microsoft has specific removal tools. We mentioned the
Speaker 2: Malicious Software Removal Tool MSRT already that monthly updater.
Speaker 1: For major threat delivered via Windows updates second Tuesday.
Speaker 2: That's the one. Then there's Windows Defender Offline, which we
Speaker 2: talked about booting outside Windows for deep scans crucial for rootkits.
Speaker 1: How do you launch that in Windows ten?
Speaker 2: It's usually right there in the Windows Security Settings under
Speaker 2: Virus and Threat Protection scan options, or you can create
Speaker 2: bootable media like a USB stick for.
Speaker 1: It any other scanners.
Speaker 2: There's the Microsoft Safety Scanner. It's a standalone tool you download.
Speaker 2: It's designed for one time, on demand scans and expires
Speaker 2: after ten days ensure you always get the latest definitions
Speaker 2: when you download it. Handy if you think your main
Speaker 2: antivirus might be compromised.
Speaker 1: And for big companies anything more advanced.
Speaker 2: For enterprises, there's the Diagnostics and Recovery tool set DART.
Speaker 2: It's part of a larger management pack. It includes offline
Speaker 2: tools for troubleshooting and malware hunting, though interestingly the latest
Speaker 2: DART ten doesn't bundle Defender anymore. They recommend using Defender
Speaker 2: offline separately now.
Speaker 1: And the really high end stuff using AI and cloud.
Speaker 2: That would be Windows Defender Advanced Threat Protection or ATP now.
Speaker 2: Part of the broader Microsoft Defender suite for enterprises uses
Speaker 2: machine learning and massive cloud analytics, drawing data from billions
Speaker 2: of devices worldwide via Azure.
Speaker 1: To spot really advanced attacks.
Speaker 2: Exactly, things like zero day exploits or sophisticated targeted attacks
Speaker 2: like the Neodemium attack. It detected. It's about spotting subtle
Speaker 2: patterns and anomalies across a huge data set.
Speaker 1: Very powerful, but what if none of the automatic tools work,
Speaker 1: say for a brand new zero day threat. Is manual
Speaker 1: removal ever an option?
Speaker 2: It's the absolute last resort. Extremely risky if you don't
Speaker 2: know exactly what you're doing, but sometimes necessary. The source
Speaker 2: walks through an example using a safe test virus from
Speaker 2: researchers at cqrt PL just illustrate the process.
Speaker 1: What's the very first step sounds critical?
Speaker 2: Isolate the PC immediately disconnected from the network, unplug the
Speaker 2: Ethernet cable, turn off Wi Fi, stop it spreading further,
Speaker 2: or calling home to its command server. Crucial first step.
Speaker 1: Then you have to find the actual malware process.
Speaker 2: Running right identify the running process. Task manager might not
Speaker 2: show it if it's well hidden. You typically use a
Speaker 2: more advanced tool like process explore from the CS internal
Speaker 2: suite Cause everything else to reduce noise. Then look for
Speaker 2: suspicious executables. Process explore can help you find where the
Speaker 2: file is located and how it's starting automatically, often via
Speaker 2: the registry.
Speaker 1: Once you find it, can you just kill the process.
Speaker 2: You try to deactivate the malware, but just kill it
Speaker 2: might not work. Malware often has washdog processes. That just
Speaker 2: restart the main one immediately.
Speaker 1: So what do you do?
Speaker 2: A trick is to try suspending the process first in
Speaker 2: process explorer. That freezes it without terminating it, which might
Speaker 2: prevent the watchdog from noticing right away. Then while it's suspended,
Speaker 2: you try kill process or kill process tree. You need
Speaker 2: to note down the file paths and any registry keys
Speaker 2: it's using.
Speaker 1: Then you check if it worked.
Speaker 2: Yep, test the results. Restart the PC, open process explore again.
Speaker 2: Did it come back? The test virus often does, maybe
Speaker 2: with a slightly different name, and it puts its startup
Speaker 2: entry back in the registry.
Speaker 1: So if it reappears, you need stronger medicine.
Speaker 2: Exactly. Retest the PC, this time maybe using auto runs.
Speaker 2: Another great sance Internal's tool auto runs shows everything set
Speaker 2: to start automatically. You look for unsigned entries, often highlighted pink,
Speaker 2: especially things loading with wind login. You can uncheck entries
Speaker 2: and auto runs to disable.
Speaker 1: Them, and then you delete the files.
Speaker 2: Finally, yeah, remove the malware. Go to the file locations
Speaker 2: you found like Windows temp maybe and delete the actual
Speaker 2: malware executables. Then you need to manually edit the registry
Speaker 2: to remove the startup entries. You found Auto runs helps
Speaker 2: identify these complex malware might have files in registry keys
Speaker 2: scattered all over, so it's meticulous.
Speaker 1: Work, and removing rootkits is even harder requires booting from Linux.
Speaker 2: Rootkit removal often does yes because they hide and protected
Speaker 2: boot partitions. You need to boot from a separate OS
Speaker 2: like a Linux Live CD or USB to even see
Speaker 2: those partitions and files. But messing around in there is
Speaker 2: incredibly risky. Playing delete the wrong file and Windows won't
Speaker 2: boot at all. Extreme caution needed.
Speaker 1: And really advanced users might use bcd eat it.
Speaker 2: For the truly brave. Yes, bcd eat it is a
Speaker 2: command line tool to edit the boot configuration database. You
Speaker 2: could potentially find and remove malicious boot entries, but again,
Speaker 2: one wrong command like delete on the wrong entry and
Speaker 2: your system is brecked. Definitely expert territory.
Speaker 1: So quite a journey. We've gone from floppy diss viruses
Speaker 1: to sophisticated ransomware, through layers of defense and into the
Speaker 1: weeds of manual removal. It seems clear modern Windows is
Speaker 1: much more secure.
Speaker 2: It absolutely is compared to older versions. The built in
Speaker 2: defenses are significant.
Speaker 1: Butt, and it's a big butt that protection relies on
Speaker 1: keeping things updated, not messing with default settings, and most importantly,
Speaker 1: user vigilance, being aware of what you're clicking.
Speaker 2: That's the crux of it, and it's vital to remember.
Speaker 2: This landscape changes constantly. Malware evolves, new tools appear, old
Speaker 2: ones fade, new threats emerge. You have to stay alert,
Speaker 2: keep systems patched, keep users trained.
Speaker 1: Because ultimately the biggest vulnerability often isn't the technology.
Speaker 2: It's the human element. Building that security awareness, that proactive culture,
Speaker 2: whether it's just for yourself or across a whole organization,
Speaker 2: that's probably your strongest long term defense.
Speaker 1: The source makes a chilling point. The next war will
Speaker 1: be fought online, and as hacking gets technically harder, maybe
Speaker 1: we'll the attackers focus more on physical access. That infected
Speaker 1: USB stick left in the parking lot becomes the way.
Speaker 2: In It forces us to think about security holistically, digital
Speaker 2: and physical.
Speaker 1: Absolutely, So the final thought for you listening is what
Speaker 1: steps will you take today, right now to start fortifying
Speaker 1: your own digital castle