I wrote this article to help you remove W32.Qakbot Virus. This W32.Qakbot Virus removal guide works for all Windows versions.

W32.Qakbot is a Trojan horse with a rich history. The clandestine program was first spotted in 2009. After years of wreaking havoc, the virus was put on the shelf for a while. Programs like W32.Qakbot serve the person who has possession of them. It was a week ago when a campaign caught the eye of malware researchers. The virus has resurfaced and it has already been able to infect thousands of computers across the globe. The nefarious program can compromise your system and use it to penetrate remote devices. Cyber security experts warn people to be on the lookout while browsing the web and observe the behavior of their PC.

W32.Qakbot is distributed through dark patterns. The sources for the Trojan are not difficult to distinguish. If you keep your focus, you will be able to discern the red flags. The most common propagation vector is spam email campaigns. The sender can devise the message to resemble a genuine notification from a legitimate organization. He can write on behalf of the authorities, a government institution, a courier firm, a social network, a shopping platform, a bank or a postal branch. The payload of W32.Qakbot will be packed with an attachment. The sender will list the appended file as an important piece of documentation. This trick tries to push the recipient into opening the attachment without thinking it through. All you have to do is check the account the email was sent from. Spammers create fake accounts since they cannot access the official ones.

Corrupted websites and compromised links can transmit W32.Qakbot to your computer after a single click. Entering the host domain will trigger the transferral of the contained program. The download and subsequent install of the Trojan will be conducted through background processes. Victims often remain oblivious to the occurrence. Even if you do realize what is happening, you may fail to stop the procedure on time. The secluded program can get installed to your PC in a matter of seconds. To avert such an event, you have to do your research on unfamiliar websites before visiting them. It should be noted that links can come from different places, including chat messages, spam emails, unsolicited websites, embedded advertisements and others.

The symptoms for the presence of W32.Qakbot are basic and vague at first. It could take you a while to realize there is a parasite in your system. The Trojan uses up a lot of virtual memory to perform its malicious operations. This will result in your computer becoming slow, freezing and crashing on occasion. W32.Qakbot was originally created for the purpose of recording banking details. This continues to be the main application of the Trojan. The insidious program has also retained its target choice. Companies are the primary focus because they store larger sums than private users. Home computers are less likely to be penetrated. Of course, they are not excluded from the attacks. Be advised that using your workplace computer to access your online banking accounts raises the risk of having your credentials leaked.

The proprietors of W32.Qakbot can use the collected data to break into online financial accounts and withdraw funds. This is the most obvious thing to do. Another option is to sell the gathered input on darknet markets. The people who obtain it will get the opportunity to enter the victims’ online accounts. Cyber criminals tend to purchase information from the darkweb. This alone is enough to put things into perspective. Like most Trojan horses, W32.Qakbot can use an already infected machine to infiltrate remote devices on a broad geographic scale. This property enables viruses like W32.Qakbot to keep spreading continuously.

W32.Qakbot possesses a number of advanced capabilities which set it apart from other Trojans. Perhaps the most essential functionality of the furtive program is to recompile its code. Making changes to its entire coding scheme results in the virus becoming undetectable for AV programs. This ability makes W32.Qakbot all the more hard to combat against. Upon monitoring the latest string, researchers made a discovery. The covert program’s activity can have a side effect under certain domain configurations. The Trojan’s dictionary attack for accessing target machines can result in multiple failed authentication attempts. This can lead to Active Directory lockouts.

W32.Qakbot Virus Removal

Run the Task Manager by right clicking on the Taskbar and choosing Start Task Manager.

Look carefully at the file names and descriptions of the running processes. If you find any suspicious one, search on Google for its name, or contact me directly to identify it. If you find a malware process, right-click on it and choose End task.