IT question

[tncaver]

My firewall detected a keylogger today. I deleted it along with the files it used to access this computer.
It was called Ardamax Keylogger and it accessed this
computer via C:WINDOWS\system32\Macromed\Flash\NPSWF32.dll and a similar file named C:WINDOWS\
system32\macromed\NPSWF32\Flashutil.exe
Since I deleted those files the NSS banner at the top of the page does not display at all. When I deleted the keylogger, did the
flash player that enables the banner get deleted too? Basically, I guess I'm asking if the flash player that
drives the banner also contained the keylogger.

[Phil Winkler]

Good question. It wouldn't surprise me, tho, if it did.

TANSTAAFL, after all.

Google ought to reveal something.

[vtdarrell]

C:WINDOWS\system32\Macromed\Flash\NPSWF32.dll is a dynamic link library required for the Flash player to work on your machine.

Many Adobe products (version 8 and earlier) were highly susceptible to attack. Adobe released updates for almost all of their products a couple of months ago to close their security holes. Do you recall what version of Flash you were using?

I'd say, download the latest full copy of Flash from Adobe (because updating a broken installation won't help much). In fact, I think I'd do a complete uninstall of your current Flash player before installing the latest and greatest.

http://www.adobe.com/products/flashplayer/

[tncaver]

After the NSS banner disappeared, there was a link for a flash plugin in it's place. I clicked on that
and now the banner is back. So far, I have had no more spyware detections.
My Anti spyware program also suffered a malfunction and would not download updated definitions.
I downloaded a new free version of it and now it works fine too.
Hopefully there will be no more problems.
Thanks for your input.

[Cheryl Jones]

[Steven Johnson]

This sounds like a false positive to me (unless your Flash install was somehow infected with the keylogger)... I've never heard of Flash being used for a general keylogging attack nor it being flagged in this way by a malware checker.

(As it happens, I work on the Flash Player for Adobe, so I'm not unbiased... but Flash is pretty damn secure! If you're getting these reports it may be indicative of a more general issue on your computer.)