Avoid FPSBanana

MattQ86 · Jul 2010

WARNING: Avoid FPSBanana!!!!
If you're planning on looking for new maps, UIs or any other mods then avoid FPS Banana for a while. They've been infected with the "Black Internet" trojan.

Full Credit to Rhalle and GTFO Gaming for finding this. Just thought I'd let you all know about this since the only thread on this on the Steam forums is in the CS:S forum.

Here's the links to the threads I got them on and some info I quoted on it:

Rhalle
GTFO

Quote:
Originally Posted by GTFO
The site is currently infected with the 'Black Internet' trojan.

It's embedded in the site itself somehow, which means all you have to do is go there-- you don't have to download anything, and you'll be infected. All the following programs did not detect the trojan AVG, Ad-Aware and Windows Defender.

If you've been to FPSBanana in the last day or less, check your task manager. Look for iexplore.exe running-- or multiple instances of it if you are surfing with internet explorer, of course. You might also be hearing audio advertisements and/or multiple weird noises and mouseclicks.

Apparently this trojan infects the MBR, to fix the virus problem make all folders viewable in the control panel -> large icons -> folder options -> view -> show hidden files, folders and drives, then reboot in Safe Mode and go here:

C:\Users\YOURUSERNAME\Appdata\Local\Temp

and deleting these two files:

Loader.exe
Smss.exe

And until further notice I strongly suggest that you avoid going to the website.
Quote:
Originally Posted by GTFO
About this Virus
The new FPSBanana virus is a Rootkit virus known as "Black Internet". It is extremely dangerous to your system and security on your computer. A Rootkit virus buries itself into your Master Boot Record which forces the virus to load upon startup. You cannot disable the virus through safe-mode or "msconfig".
!NOTE!
VIRUS SCANNERS WILL NOT DETECT OR FIND THIS VIRUS! ONLY REAL-TIME VIRUS PROTECTION CAN DETECT AND STOP THIS VIRUS FROM BEING INSTALLED.

As of right now, the only working real-time detection and stopping of this virus is Kaspersky. Kaspersky will NOT remove the virus if you already have it.
The virus is obtained through a Java exploit from the advertisements on FPSBanana. Adblock will NOT stop you from getting this virus. Even if you have Ripe, you can still get this virus.

What does it do?
First, the virus buries itself into your Master Boot Record to keep you from detecting and removing the virus easily with any type of virus protection software. Afterwards, it loads up an application that will keep Internet Explorer open and showing you ads in the background or hidden voice ads. There are also reports of this being a Backdoor virus also which can transfer your sensitive information to the creators.

Symptoms
- Internet Explorer opens with ads randomly
- Windows keep minimizing
- Your computer sound will keep turning up and down randomly
- You will hear the clicks of pages being browsed in the background
- Visiting websites might not work

Do I have the Virus?
Even if you think you do not have the virus, you could still be infected!
There is an easy way to test if you have the virus. Follow these steps...

Step 1)
Press CTRL+ALT+DEL on your keyboard. Click "Open Task Manager".

Step 2)
On the Task Manger, click the "Processes" tabs.

Step 3)
Look through your processes for "loader.exe". If you have that file running, there will also be one or multiple instances of "iexplorer.exe". If so, You are infected!

Image

Removing the Virus
To remove this virus, you are REQUIRED to have a Windows disk corresponding to your version of Windows OR a recovery drive that came from factory. If you do not, you are pretty much screwed... There are other ways but they have a 10% chance of working.

So now, insert your Windows disk into your CD/DVD drive and restart your computer. When it says to "Press any key to continue..." do so. If you have a recovery drive, you will either have to press a key that is defined on the Bios screen or press F8 before Windows loads. Choose to recover your Windows installation.

After you choose the option to recover your Windows Installation, you can choose to use Command Prompt to do so. Once the Command Prompt opens, type the following...

Windows XP: fixmbr
Vista or 7: bootrec.exe /FixMbr

After the process completes, you can then close command prompt and Restart your computer. When the computer loads up again, the Virus has been disabled. You just need to delete the file.

You can either use CCleaner to delete all over your Windows Temporary Files or goto your temp folder in the following location...
Windows XP: C:\Documents and Settings\Application Data\temp
Vista or 7: C:\Users\[YOUR USERNAME]\AppData\Local\Temp

Find the file "loader.exe" and delete it.

You should be all set now and the infection should be gone. Double check by following the the steps to check for the virus above.
Edit: people are getting a little too paranoid over this. Don't panic at every process you don't recognise, if it looks suspicios then a look in google should help you find sites with info on it. At the moment, mainly be concerned about the processes mentioned.

Have a read over this again:

Quote:
!NOTE!
VIRUS SCANNERS WILL NOT DETECT OR FIND THIS VIRUS! ONLY REAL-TIME VIRUS PROTECTION CAN DETECT AND STOP THIS VIRUS FROM BEING INSTALLED.

As of right now, the only working real-time detection and stopping of this virus is Kaspersky. Kaspersky will NOT remove the virus if you already have it.
The virus is obtained through a Java exploit from the advertisements on FPSBanana. Adblock will NOT stop you from getting this virus. Even if you have Ripe, you can still get this virus.
Kaspersky, seems to be your best chance of preventing the virus from being installed.

Don't panic, it won't help things. There's a good chance most/many of you don't have it - it's worth a check though.

Edit2:

I'll try and make this a list of Anti-Virus you can use to avoid this;

Kaspersky will detect and prevent this from installing on your computer.

Somone in this thread somewhere mentioned that Avast also does this. I can't confirm it as I've not heard anything else about Avast for this but I've heard great things about it anyway.

I'll list more as I find/read about them. Sorry it's a bit short.

Some people are also saying running Kaspersky, Add Block and No Script will block this. I can't confirm this either but it may stop your PC from getting this trojan.

Note: Mac and Linux users: You should be fine. You shouldn't need to worry about this(well, I certainly hope so).

Note2: For an alternative place to go for TF2 maps, TF2 Maps is a good site to go to and most likely a better alternative. Thanks to Grim Tuesday for reminding me.

*(These 2 links below should be safe. If anyone knows for a fact that they're not then let me know please)*

TF2 Maps

If you're an L4D or L4D2 player, L4D Maps is also a great site and alternative for maps.

L4D Maps

TLDR: Avoid FPS Banana, it has the computer HIV.