Can a Virus work if my computer is turned off? (laptop, bios)

[Archan]

I just got hit with a virus that sends everyone in my MSN contact list an e-mail asking if they want to make money. It sends the e-mails when my computer is turned off. I tried running Spybot and Malwarebyte's Anti-Malware and they both came up with no viruses. Anyone hear of this virus and any solutions? Thanks!

[EscapeCalifornia]

Your computer can't do anything when its off. Someone got your MSN password. Change your password to something strong asap.

[Tek_Freek]

Password checker

[Archan]

Originally Posted by EscapeCalifornia

Your computer can't do anything when its off. Someone got your MSN password. Change your password to something strong asap.

Thanks for the reply. I was racking my brain trying to think of how they were doing it. I just changed my password. Hopefully it works. Thanks!

[Xanathos]

Originally Posted by Archan

I just got hit with a virus that sends everyone in my MSN contact list an e-mail asking if they want to make money. It sends the e-mails when my computer is turned off. I tried running Spybot and Malwarebyte's Anti-Malware and they both came up with no viruses. Anyone hear of this virus and any solutions? Thanks!

There is a (in all probability, unnecessary) question neither of the responders asked: Are these emails being sent when you initiate your shutdown procedure on the machine, or significantly thereafter?

If it's the latter, then...well yeah....how is it going to send an email when it's powered down?

If it's the former...I haven't heard of a virus doing that in about 7 years, but I suppose it's possible someone would bring that old classic back. Does your computer successfully complete its shutdown process, or does it fail and remain powered on/lag significantly before powering down?

[Archan]

Originally Posted by Xanathos

There is a (in all probability, unnecessary) question neither of the responders asked: Are these emails being sent when you initiate your shutdown procedure on the machine, or significantly thereafter?

If it's the latter, then...well yeah....how is it going to send an email when it's powered down?

If it's the former...I haven't heard of a virus doing that in about 7 years, but I suppose it's possible someone would bring that old classic back. Does your computer successfully complete its shutdown process, or does it fail and remain powered on/lag significantly before powering down?

The last batch of e-mails were sent about nine hours after the computer had been shut down. I didn't think that a computer virus could work on a shut down computer, but these days who knows what hackers are coming up with.

[Xanathos]

Originally Posted by Archan

The last batch of e-mails were sent about nine hours after the computer had been shut down. I didn't think that a computer virus could work on a shut down computer, but these days who knows what hackers are coming up with.

Well, rest assured they'll never come up with that.

[tban]

Try using keyscrambler to encode your keystrokes when using internet explorer or firefox. Change your passwords on a clean computer!

[TurcoLoco]

Originally Posted by Archan

The last batch of e-mails were sent about nine hours after the computer had been shut down. I didn't think that a computer virus could work on a shut down computer, but these days who knows what hackers are coming up with.

A virus within a system cannot do anything when the system is completely powered off but unfortunately a PC/laptop that was shutdown yet connected to a power source and Internet is never 100% secure. One simple example is, if the virus, while it was active, was designed to reconfigure the power related settings in the BIOS, so that the computer could be powered on via a network signal, then the hacker/server that got your IP from the virus/Trojan/worm on your system then it could wake up the machine.

As to your initial question, as others mentioned, your account is compromised. It happened to several of my friends and it was their account not their PC. I advised them to contact Hotmail/MSN customer service but at the same time, permanently remove all contacts from the account in question.
Some of them told me that when they contacted Hotmail customer service, they seem to have heard this issue already and they advised the same thing I told them (remove all contacts from that account's address book) and have the account suspended or deleted afterward (if applicable).
One of the people told me that it was his 'decoy' e-mail address that he was using when he knew it would get spam as an outcome to wherever he used it and that he wasn't even aware the account was compromised until I warned him about it. So I am guessing he received an e-mail that had a malicious file as an attachment or he used the e-mail address to sign up to a site which sent him an activation/confirmation e-mail with a link that hijacked the account credentials.

In any event, good luck!

[Archan]

I changed my password and deleted all my contacts. I just got a batch of nondeliverable e-mails back. My computer was off. It looks like they sent the e-mails using a delayed delivery. Is this possible and how do I cancel all delayed e-mails from sending again. Any help would be appreciated.