Date of Infection?

[saccomputerdoc]

Hey there,

 

I have a question.  Is there any way - using Malwarebytes to locate the infection - to determine the actual DATE of infection?  Malwarebytes is fantastic at locating and removing infections, but what if I want to know the exact date that the infection entered my system?  

 

Is there a way to determine that?

[David H. Lipman]

Not with a certainty.  Often malware will change file dates to be much older to give them the appearance they have been there a long time.

 

However, to some degree, one can make assumptions based upon folder date and times when the malware was installed.  When one cleans the PC they would have to do from a forensic POV.  Noting what was found, where and their associated dates.

[AdvancedSetup]

If you have auditing enabled and a large enough database size for your Event Logs then you could tell from them in most cases however auditing is not enabled by default and few if any home users enable it. The Event Logs alone "might" show something but you'd have to scour it to check.

 

Certainly other tools and means but well beyond the scope of help or support here for doing forensic analysis