KBOT virus takes out system files with no hope of recovery

Computer viruses and worms were once common but have now given way to more sophisticated and varied threats, including illicit cryptocurrency miners, Trojans, ransomware, and highly complex surveillance software designed to infiltrate mobile devices.

However, sometimes there is a blast from the past — as in the recent case of KBOT, a new virus making the rounds.

The new malware was spotted by Kaspersky researchers. In a blog post on Monday, Kaspersky’s Anna Malina said KBOT, a virus that spreads by injecting malicious code into Windows executable files, is the “first “living” virus in recent years that we have spotted in the wild.”

KBOT is able to spread through Internet-facing systems, local networks, and removable drives. Once a system is infected, the malware writes itself to Startup and the Task Scheduler, infecting all .exe files on logical drives and shared network folders in its path.