Malware on limewire? Security question

[carnageX]

Let's say you were using the defualt settinga and no personal files were shared. Is there a way that someone would create a virus or malware to share my documents folder or some other folder on the limewire network? Or how would they go about it

See my previous reply. Yes, it's possible, depending on the software and how it's settings are stored.

Like I said, it all depends on the intent of the malware. Back when Limewire/those kinds of P2P software were popular...sure, it could be likely that they would change your sharing/directory settings... but I wouldn't say very likely.

A piece of malware's point would be to exploit other security flaws that exist on the system so that it can leak your info out, get you to click on something to download more malware/give out your credit card info or other account info, download more malware by themselves without your intervention, or just leave backdoors open and let other malware in at later times.

 

[milkyway]

What folders would it likely share? I saw one article that shared c:/fonts?? Don't seem like you could get anything from that file haha.

 

[carnageX]

What folders would it likely share? I saw one article that shared c:/fonts?? Don't seem like you could get anything from that file haha.

That's entirely up to the malware writer what folder it would set it to. Personal document directories to get personal documents, system directories to inject malicious software into system areas/replace system files, etc. The best answer I gave give is "it depends."

The C:\Windows\Fonts folder is actually a true one - I had to work on a client's machine that had over 30,000 .zip files (other pieces of malware that were downloaded from other malware on the system - i.e. trojan downloaders) downloaded into the C:\Windows\Fonts folder in another hidden directory. Why put it there? Because it's not a common place to look into if you're manually removing viruses/malware.

 

[milkyway]

That's entirely up to the malware writer what folder it would set it to. Personal document directories to get personal documents, system directories to inject malicious software into system areas/replace system files, etc. The best answer I gave give is "it depends."

The C:\Windows\Fonts folder is actually a true one - I had to work on a client's machine that had over 30,000 .zip files (other pieces of malware that were downloaded from other malware on the system - i.e. trojan downloaders) downloaded into the C:\Windows\Fonts folder in another hidden directory. Why put it there? Because it's not a common place to look into if you're manually removing viruses/malware.

Ic that makes sense. But what information would they want with the fonts folder? Or does it reveal more folders and its just stored in the font folder

 

[milkyway]

Ic that makes sense. But what information would they want with the fonts folder? Or does it reveal more folders and its just stored in the font folder

Also is there anyway to tell if your p2p program was infected and sharing more folders than they were supposed 2?

 

[carnageX]

Ic that makes sense. But what information would they want with the fonts folder? Or does it reveal more folders and its just stored in the font folder

They're not getting info FROM the Fonts folder...they're storing IN the Fonts folder because it was a folder less likely to be checked by people manually removing malware. If you run an AV/malware scanner, it will scan ALL folders and would pick them up (which is what I did, hence why I found 30,000+ malicious files in the Fonts folder of a client's machine).

Also is there anyway to tell if your p2p program was infected and sharing more folders than they were supposed 2?

The P2P software itself won't be infected - settings would have just been changed if that were the case. Otherwise, malware uses other hooks to run applications "through" them, or run standalone by themselves to do their own tasks.

 

[milkyway]

Would it likely share personal photos on limewire if malware infected it

 

[carnageX]

Would it likely share personal photos on limewire if malware infected it

Again, see my previous reply, specifically this part:

That's entirely up to the malware writer what folder it would set it to. Personal document directories to get personal documents, system directories to inject malicious software into system areas/replace system files, etc. The best answer I gave give is "it depends."

Pictures could be considered "personal documents."

 

[milkyway]

Thanks for the help. If files did get inadvertenly shared on for say limewire would they still be available today. Since limewire is gone. Would they still be circulating. Personal documents such as?

 

[carnageX]

Thanks for the help. If files did get inadvertenly shared on for say limewire would they still be available today. Since limewire is gone. Would they still be circulating. Personal documents such as?

Depends if people downloaded the files if they were publicly shared, and if people did download them, if they kept them and/or put them up on blackmarket sites that sell people's stolen info.

Unless the documents had sensitive info (name, address, SSN, other personal info, etc.), they probably weren't "circulated" or sold.