Am I the Victim of a Root Kit?

It is hard to tell if you become the victim of a root kit until something devastating happens. The best method is prevention. Simply put, a root kit is a software tool that can be installed on a computer, without the user’s knowledge. Once installed, a root kit provides remote access to computer information including files and system information. The root kit is difficult to detect and it embeds itself into the operating system and “watches” the information.

Root kits are used for both good and bad reasons. Used properly, they allow parental programs and law enforcement systems to provide surveillance and protection. Parents can download these root kits to monitor their child’s online activities, and law enforcement can install these for the purposes of catching criminals. The downside is that hackers can install root kits on computers for the purpose of stealing a person’s identity or importing a virus.

A root kit can be placed on a computer in a variety of very inconspicuous ways. It can be installed by a user opening up an e-mail with a graphic or link to a website. Once the user opens the e-mail, the root kit is installed without the user’s knowledge. A pop-up window may appear when users are surfing the web, informing that in order to view a certain site a program must be downloaded. The user may download the program and at the same time be downloading a root kit.

Once a root kit is installed, it allows the hacker to communicate with the computer whenever the computer is online. This puts the user at great risk for identity theft. The root kit can allow the hacker to access sensitive information from the system, such as credit card information, banking passwords and usernames.

Running a virus scan usually protects your computer from most dangerous viruses; however, this is not necessarily true with root kits. Root kits are difficult to detect and are not typically found or removed through standard antivirus scans. The other issue is while root kits do interfere with the computer system there are rarely red flags that tell users that something is wrong. There is no slowing of the system, or issues with logon or other typical clues that there is a virus. These root kits are very savvy and work hard to not cause problems so they can continue to hack into the system.

To guard your system against root kits it is advised that security software be kept up to date. Ensure that you do not open mail from unidentified users, delete your spam e-mails and install operating system updates as they become available. There are specific security tools that are used for root kit detection and removal. These tools go beyond the standard antivirus. Doing a search for a root kit detection or root kit remover will provide results for many programs that work specifically to detect and remove root kits.