Raila “Virus”

Fortunately, I haven’t yet come across the “Raila Virus” on my systems, but my colleague in Embu told me earlier this week that it took him two days to organize someone who cleaned all machines – one by one.

Some months ago, I switched from an older Kaspersky 5.0.x release to FreeAv/Avira AntiVir by the (German) company AVIRA. A free English version (PersonalEdition Classic) for private use is available online (~16 MB). Standalone virus definitions are also available from this (more or less hidden) source, so anyone who wants to update some computers only has to download the definition files once.

Mimi sijui if this is of any help, but according to this list from July 26th 07, there’s a “Raila” definition included with the latest release. I actually installed freeAv on some GoK computers last year and managed to clean them of a nasty worm that kept on coming up. All of this within just 30 minutes! McAfee & a Norton suite often come shipped with new computers, but frankly said: they suck. Norton even more than McAfee. So in case you want to save some mbeca on the computer guy (sorry folks, I know this is killing business :-), pls feel free to try out Avira AntiVir if you haven’t yet done so.

Oh, and btw: once downloaded, pls save the setup executable on a write-protected medium (protected flash stick, CD-ROM, etc.) so it doesn’t become infected itself.

Hmm. I guess this is just another proof of how much we actually need to have free and open source, reliable, stable, compatible and secure operating systems installed on all computers that are running within government institutions. Dito in Germany (some cities actually already switched). Aahh, politics… (and there you go wondering why it was called Raila in the first place! What’s next – ThikaRoad Traffic Jam Virus? :-)

Author: jke

Hi, I am an engineer who freelances in water & sanitation-related IT projects at Saniblog.org. You'll also find me on Twitter @jke and Instagram.

15 thoughts on “Raila “Virus””

  1. You guy that Raila virus is terrible! I’m running the latest version of Kaspersky and it couldn’t pick it up. However AVG Free managed to clean it. Maybe this is a new open source kinda virus that only gets cleaned by Free AntiVirus software! Hehe. You should join the Skunkworks Kenya mailing list there was some interesting discussion there (and the patch was first released there!) me i believe those who release the patch released the virus eh! (Conspiracy theories as usual!) Apologies for visiting your site with IE instead of FireFox, just testing some settings!

  2. Oh, so AVG Free managed to clean it? Nice!

    Yeah I read about the Raila virus on Skunkworks earlier last week, but just loosely followed the discussions as I am just subscribed to the digest version.

  3. Sup ya’ll this thing is hardly what i would call a virus i mean. you dont have to be a brain surgeon to disassemble it and break it to shreds. and i disagree with mcafee being shit. norton yes mcafee definately not. cause mcafee detects both mutations of the file and auto deletes download the latest DAT and your pretty much set. But on the bright side, i’ll still vote for raila LMAO

  4. Hon Raila Amolo Odinga, the Mp for Kibera, nay, Langata, is considered a Kingmaker in Kenyan politics. According to the late Hon Michael Kijana Wamalwa, he inspires both Railamania and Railaphobia while the latest biography aptly describes him as an enigma in Kenyan politics. In Luo Nyanza Raila has cultivated a cult of personality that is the envy of many a politician. This cult has spawned myths that elevates Raila almost to the level of luo legends like Gor Mahia and Lwanda Magere. Infact, Hon Raila Amolo Odinga, the Mp for Kibera, nay, Langata, is considered a Kingmaker in Kenyan politics. According to the late Hon Michael Kijana Wamalwa, he inspires both Railamania and Railaphobia while the latest biography aptly describes him as an enigma in Kenyan politics. In Luo Nyanza Raila has cultivated a cult of personality that is the envy of many a politician. This cult has spawned myths that elevates Raila almost to the level of luo legends like Gor Mahia and Lwanda Magere. Infact, professors of Political Science bow in awe and sing praises to Agwambo, owad gi Akinyi

    Raila straddles the Kenyan political landscape like the proverbial colossus. Whenever, he is out of the country, his absence speaks even louder. He has the knack of setting the political agenda by just calling a prss conference; and even if you are dyed-in-the-wool critique of this guy, you must appreciate one fact: he is a force that cannot be wished away.

    Despite all this accolades as a politician, Raila fails miserable as a leader. This is manifested by the increasing socio-economic misery that he has brought to members of the luo community. No wonder, the word luo Nyanza evokes negative feelings of poverty disease and immaturity. This is not to say that Raila is wholly responsible for the woes facing the luo community, members of this community are equally culpable.

    To begin with, Raila enjoys unbridled power as leaders of the luo community- forget the fact that he is a Nairobi MP. This has come about due to the fact that the luos suffered immensely under Kenyatta and Moi to the point where they were desperate for leaders who will fearless fight for them. The late Jaramogi Odinga, one of the most principled and honest politicians this country has ever had – took up this mantle but fate was not kind to him. His son ascended to this throne with the promise to deliver the luo from socio-political wilderness. Unbeknown to the luo community, he subtly changed course and is now leading them deeper and deeper into the hot desert while he is covered with a human umbrella and has fresh water at his disposal. He has even taken all the manna that dropped from heaven so that his people can remain hungry and beg from him.

    Many sons and daughters of the luo community have died in this circus of the so called political and economic liberation while his closest relatives live in luxury. When its is appropriate, Raila sheds crocodile tears knowing well aware that these suffering and death only serves to reinforce the persecution complex within the community that ensures his political survival.

    It is instructive to note that the sugar and fish sector remain the mainstay of luo economy. However, no single day not one I know of has Raila ever employed his mobilization skill and rhetoric to fight for the farmers and the fisherfolk. For along time, before Kibaki came to power, sugar framer went for years without being paid for their produce. Meanwhile, tones of sugar were being imported into the country compounding further the woes further. All this time, Agwambo never raised a finger or was he part of the cartel that was importing sugar. In the fish sector, it is ironical that people in Nyanza are contended with fish skeletons popularly known as mgongowazi due to high levels of poverty while hoping against hope that all will be well when Raila becomes president Never!

    Some will argue that Raila is the MP for Kibera and is not responsible for the woes affecting the people of Nyanza. Nothing could be further from the truth. Raila is covertly and overtly at the centre of all the major political events taking place in the region including who becomes MP, if in doubt, just ask Raphael Tuju, the MP for Rarieda. However, this is not to say that Tuju should provide the much needed alternative centre of power, given that he cannot be come an MP if left to his own devices.

    One would ask: what do you want Raila to do? Before I answer the question, I would say that Raila has remained the undisputed (mis)leader of the luo community for very long time. If he was wise and had the interest of the luo people, he would use this privileged position to help his people economically and not to pursue his own selfish political interests at the expense of his community. He should do this by using his influence among the luo as a political bargaining chip to force the government acquiesce to the urgent needs of his people in whatever way possible in return for political support. Politics for its own sake will not help the luo people.

    At this point, I want to challenge Raila to tell the public any substantial contribution in terms of economic development that he has made to his community.

    In conclusion, its time for the luo to take a hard look at themselves in the social-economic mirror and see the bruises and wounds in their faces caused by a leader whom they worship more than Nyasaye

  5. Hello.
    You wanna smash rails virus to pieces?

    Iam a programm and i managed to kutoanisha the virus and see
    it’s intestines: the kind of guy who wont sleep before i solve that
    problem i got in my comp.

    It’s written in Vb.I got the registry read write areas and afterwards
    I managed to remove it from a friends laptop using a special CD / HD R/W linux mount.(Felt pround to have outwitted the virus authour)
    and am offering to HELP any dude to remove the virus.
    Bye.
    (i dont talk much dudes,am a geek,freak name it…)

    Hey to the virus author : “Next time compile your exe,pack it also : you dont want me to subject your virusi to WINICE”

    To Wakenya wote
    1)Dont use IE –grrrrrrrrrrrrrr “IE,kiss ma A**”
    2)Use Firefox or Opera
    3)-Ultimate solution use linux like me.- stay safe
    4)Dont use your flash disk in a Cyber.
    5)Id your cant follow rule no 4,Use an updated kasperky always.
    6)mail me for free help.Free as in beer.

  6. I find your analysis interesting. I have been tracking infection patterns of viruses since 2001. So basically I have a very big collection. Lately the Kenyans seem to have joined the bandwagon, unfortunately their end products have are cut paste versions of source code downloaded from the net. My point, there is a difference between the 2 viruses. The one that displays the Kibaki AD is coded in VB the raila virus is coded in NSIS scripting language(full analysis at http://avs.edgekenya.com). Save yourself the trouble of using winice and get a good VB decompiler. It will reverse the code to at least the readable original version. Never thought kenyans were capable of coding viruses or even using a disassembler like winice (piracy is like 99%), so I guess a lot of things are definitely happening this year.

  7. Jacob, thx for the updates and the informative link!

    “Never thought kenyans were capable of coding viruses or even using a disassembler like winice (piracy is like 99%)”
    LOL! Kenyans are everywhere.

  8. ok,ok, enuff geek lingo.how do lay men like my airhead self get this damn pest out of my machine?And i need not pay squat to get it removed, so is it AVG FREE or Mcafee? And what the heck is VB and WINNY….ER…WINICE?
    LOL

  9. One thing we all know is that in this country its all about tribalism the person who talk about Raila as the betrayer of the luos knows very little and is probably a kiuk. We know luos are very inteligent and i always wish i was a luo Raila virus is probably by railas enemies.Lets hope they will stop politicking and prosper.

  10. Politicking aside…. hoe in HELL DO YOU GET THE DAMN THING OUTTA YA MACHINE?!!! And which exactly is this version, eh? it disables everything possible… taskmanager, regedit, msconfig.. everything.

    I’ve been trying to follow the manual ways of removing the virus (which i always believe to be the surefire one’s), but all of them require a person to open one or the other of the above tools.

    how do you get rid of this sh*t?!!

  11. i feel you i.e. @ ‘the_observer’. you cant access the registry nor task manager. i have AVG and NOD32 and they are both useless. which leaves you quite helpless…how do you get rid of the damn thing?

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