Windows 10: Windows Defender Trojan:Script/Wacatac.H!ml keeps popping up, and it shows trojan in a .exe...

Windows Defender Trojan:Script/Wacatac.H!ml keeps popping up, and it shows trojan in a .exe file bhut in that location no file existThis will show status active and active threat have not been remediate and are running on your deviceAnd in details it shows this command is dangerous and execute commands from an attackerI'm trying to remove it but it can't happen and then i tto remove it from location but there is no file exist.I attach the screenshot of that.

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Virus Trojan:32/Wacatac.DC!ml not completely remediated on Windows PC

I would also run these mentioned above -

Virus Trojan:32/Wacatac.DC!ml not completely remediated on Windows PC

 

Virus Trojan:32/Wacatac.DC!ml not completely remediated on Windows PC

This is a "Backdoor" trojan. Read about it here: Trojan:Win32/Wacatac.D!ml - Virus Lists and Removal Steps

These are the most dangerous, and most widespread, type of Trojan.

Backdoor Trojans provide the author or ‘master’ of the Trojan with remote ‘administration’ of victim machines. Unlike legitimate remote administration utilities, they install, launch and run invisibly, without the consent or knowledge of the user. Once installed, backdoor Trojans can be instructed to send, receive, execute and delete files, harvest confidential data from the computer, log activity on the computer and more.

If your computer was used for online banking or has credit card information on it, all passwords should be changed immediately to include those used for email, eBay and forums.
You should consider them to be compromised.
They should be changed by using a different computer and not the infected one, if not an attacker may get the new passwords and transaction information.

Banking and credit card institutions should be notified of the possible security breech.

 

Removing Wacatac trojan - Windows 10

Running Windows 10 on a Dell XPS8940 desktop with a 512GB SSD for the C: drive and a 1TB HDD for the D: drive.

On 4/15/2023, Windows Defender detected the Wacatac trojan. It reported a "severe" threat. I clicked on the box to perform the recommended actions, but Defender did not report that the item was removed or quarantined. I tried both.

I looked at the details of that Defender showed and deleted all of the affected files. They were all in an AppData directory that was not the current AppData; the directories were part of data I had copied onto the XPS8940 from my prior desktop. So I deleted all of the listed files. I believe I deleted all of the files listed by Defender, but guess it's always possible that there are other infected files.

Defender continued to report the wacatac trojan. Having read on here that this virus can add a lot of registry entries, etc. I did a system restore to the one available restore point from 4/13/2023. That was successful.

Then at some point, D: drive started behaving slowly. Windows Explorer ran very slow and when i tried to deleted some unnecessary folders, it was very slow. I could delete a single file successfully.

I ran malwarebytes and it reported no threats.

I ran iobit and it reported no threats.

The problems with the D: drive started affecting the boot process. I would just get the black screen with the large "Dell" logo and the spinning circle of white dots, that would go on for 15 minutes or more. Sometimes it would say "Press any key in the next 8 seconds to stop checking..." The first couple times i did that, it went to the sign-in screen and the PC seemed to be operating OK (it boots off the SSD). But it got to the point that it was nearly impossible to boot up.

So I opened up the PC and disconnected the cables to the D: drive. Then it booted up as normal (pretty fast). Then i ran:

- Windows Defender - still reports the wacatac trojan

- Malwarebytes - no threats reported

- Windows Safety Scanner - ran successfully and the log reports no threats.

QUESTION 1:

At this point, can I be confident the wacatac trojan is no longer a threat?

QUESTION 2:

How do I fix the D: drive? If I reconnect it, I suspect it is going to interfere with the boot process again. There is data on that HDD I don't want to lose. I was thinking perhaps i could remove it from the PC and put it in a housing with a USB connection. Then after boot-up, I could scan it with Windows Safety Scanner, Defender and Malwarebytes. Then try to run chkdsk? Or perhaps some drivers are damaged?

Should I consider installing a new HDD in the PC and just try to copy the data off the old one?

QUESTION 3:

Should i upgrade to Windows 11? Seems like i should sort out the D: drive issue first.

Thanks in advance for any wisdom you can provide.

Brian