Malware and virus steal photos?

[EmilF]

Hello everyone

 

Several years ago, I was making bad descisions downloading series, movies etc. a couple of times each week, using torrents.

 

I have always used a fully updated AVG and Windows legal version, both with firewalls. 

 

A couple of times, i have gotten notifications of treats that has been stopped or quarantied.

 

I assume that, through the years som virus and malware must have gotten through.

 

I have stored many pictures on my PC of my art drawings, my family and child, that holds a tremendous personal value to me. I am not the kind of person who posts pictures of my child on the internet. I would hate, that some person with bad or criminal intentions, would somehow get hold of these pictures and abuse them. I do not have sexual photos or anything that have any blackmail value.

 

I have read, what I could find on the internet about the topic. Especially this thread gave some good answers:

https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/forums/t/636129/how-often-do-viruses-steal-picturesvideos-off-your-computer/

 

As I could read on other sites aswell, some malware scan for picture file formats, and then sends them to the intruder.

My pictues are in jpeg, jpg and png format.

 

But I thought, that maybe some of you, could shed more light on the topic.

 

My questions now are:

Is it possible some virus or malware have stolen all my pictures?

What are the chances?

Wouldn’t it require alot of upload to steal a whole drive?

Wouldn’t it be very time inefficient to look the whole drive through manually?

If they stole anything, what would they steal? My art drawings? Pictures of my child?

 

Followup question:
When intruders steal photos etc. Do you guys then have any ideas or theories about, what might happen with the data after some years time? Will they just delete them? Will they destroy their drives? End up on some server?

 

I might just be paranoid, but I need some kind of realistic reaffirmation despite it might be difficult to give.

 

Thank you alot, for taking time to read all this and answer me.

 

Sorry about grammar, english is my second language.

[AdvancedSetup]

Hello @EmilF and

Yes, it's very possible to steal anything you want from a computer if you have full access to it. If some sort of malware threat infected you computer and gained Admin rights then they can do anything you can do.

In most cases for the past few years they more intent on holding your data ransom by encrypting it on your system and then trying to sell you the key to unlock your data again. If you keep your computer protected and backup your data then it makes it very difficult to do that.

If you'd like we can scan your system for any possible threat and let you know what we find.

 

 

Please run the following steps and post back the logs as an attachment when ready.

STEP 01

• If you're already running Malwarebytes 3 then open Malwarebytes and check for updates. Then click on the Scan tab and select Threat Scan and click on Start Scan button.
• If you don't have Malwarebytes 3 installed yet please download it from here and install it.
• Once installed then open Malwarebytes and check for updates. Then click on the Scan tab and select Threat Scan and click on Start Scan button.
• Once the scan is completed click on the Export Summary button and save the file as a Text file to your desktop or other location you can find, and attach that log on your next reply.
• If Malwarebytes won't run then please skip to the next step and let me know on your next reply.

STEP 02

Please download AdwCleaner by Malwarebytes and save the file to your Desktop.

• Right-click on the program and select Run as Administrator to start the tool.
• Accept the Terms of use.
• Wait until the database is updated.
• Click Scan Now.
• When finished, please click Clean & Repair.
• Your PC should reboot now if any items were found.
• After reboot, a log file will be opened. Copy its content into your next reply.

 

RESTART THE COMPUTER Before running Step 3

STEP 03
Please download the Farbar Recovery Scan Tool and save it to your desktop.

Note: You need to run the version compatible with your system. You can check here if you're not sure if your computer is 32-bit or 64-bit

• Double-click to run it. When the tool opens, click Yes to disclaimer.
• Press the Scan button.
• It will make a log (FRST.txt) in the same directory the tool is run. Please attach it to your reply.
• The first time the tool is run, it also makes another log (Addition.txt). If you've, run the tool before you need to place a check mark here.
• Please attach the Additions.txt log to your reply as well.

 

Thanks

Ron

 

[AdvancedSetup]

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