Shiotob

Shiotob is a backdoor Trojan that is often distributed using social engineering tactics and unsafe email attachments. The most common way in which Shiotob is distributed is using spam email messages that are programed to imitate genuine emails from news sources, airlines, couriers and other types of businesses. The point of these unsafe spam email messages is to fool computer users into opening an attached file of clicking on an embedded link. These lead computer users to drive-by-download websites that install Shiotob on the victim's computer or contain Shiotob's executable file itself. In the case of an exposition to doubtful email messages from unsolicited sources or if your computer is displaying symptoms of a possible threat, ESG security researchers suggest the utilization of a competent anti-malware program to disinfect your computer and prevent future threat attacks.

Typical Problems Carried Out by Shiotob

Malware infections like Shiotob will seldom cause symptoms directly by themselves. Rather, Shiotob may be used to deliver other types of unwanted components to the affected computer which can themselves alert the computer user of a problem on the infected computer. For example, Shiotob may be used to allow criminals to insert rogue security software or a banking Trojan on the victim's computer. Essentially, Shiotob is a backdoor Trojan. This means that Shiotob establishes an unauthorized breach in the infected computer's security protection. Using the Shiotob backdoor, criminals may spy on the infected computer's activities or install other threats. Shiotob may cause performance problems and issues with Internet connectivity. However, in most cases the first sign of a Shiotob infection will be a detection by the infected computer's security application.

Preventing and Dealing with a Shiotob Infection

The best way of preventing a Shiotob infection is protecting your machine with a proven anti-malware program that is always updated. It is also crucial to use other security software such as a reliable anti-spam filter and a strong firewall. Although security software is important, though, it is just as important to practice safe browsing habits such as avoiding websites with unsafe content that are typically used to distribute threats (for example, websites with pornographic material or peer to peer file sharing networks). Since Shiotob may often be used alongside components used to steal sensitive data, it is important to avoid handling sensitive data (such as credit card numbers) until traces of Shiotob or its associated threatening components are removed.