Windows 2003/XP/2000/NT/ME/98/95/3.X

Koobface.KA is a rootkit. These are programs used to hide files, Windows Registry entries or processes, either their own or those of other programs.

In this way, even when a user looks for these items on a computer, they won't be able to see them.

Rootkits have been widely used for malicious ends, to camouflage other programs on computers that have previously been compromised through other means.

There are certain examples of malware that use rootkits in order to go unnoticed on the computer they have infected.

• In the local network: it generates a large amount of network activity and consumes bandwidth.

It reduces the security level of the computer: it awaits remote-control orders received through IRC.

It uses stealth techniques to avoid being detected by the user:

• It uses techniques included in its code to hide itself while it is active.
• It terminates processes corresponding to several security tools, such as antivirus programs and firewalls, to prevent detection.

Koobface.KA uses the following propagation or distribution methods:

• Exploiting vulnerabilities with the intervention of the user: exploiting vulnerabilities in file formats or applications. To exploit them successfully it needs the intervention of the user: opening files, viewing malicious web pages, reading emails, etc.
• Via Internet, exploiting remote vulnerabilities: attacking random IP addresses, in which it tries to insert a copy of itself by exploiting one or more vulnerabilities.
• Email: sending emails that include a copy of itself as an attachment. The computer is infected when the attachment is run.
• Peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing programs: it makes copies of itself with enticing names in shared folders belonging to these programs. Other users of this type of networks then voluntarily download and run the infected files.