A virus threatens brokers' platforms

@anon81929759

I do not know enough to assess what you have written properly, but it seems like logical “damage limitation” procedure.

Thank you for that :sunglasses:

then why are you commenting at all ?

short and sweet.

credit where - it’s due :slight_smile:

Credit for what ?
i honestly cannot tell if you are being sarcastic right now or if you are being genuine
so can you please clarify ?

Wow! Thanks! So it really is not as indestructible as I thought.

I agree. It is something that depends more on the user’s intelligence to determine what to use or not to use or download.

The proportion of free EAs downloaded from websites and forums that contain some kind of hidden malware (usually passed on unknowingly and with good intentions, of course) is absolutely enormous.

As I remember, “Traders Magazine” a year or two ago, in a big survey, estimated it at around 75% (that was including spyware as well as viruses, I think).

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A real issue arises if your trades are placed server side of the platform you’re using… turning off the computer will not stop trades placed prior to shutting down your PC. I had heard of the Antikapitalist a while ago and the carnage it caused. Predominantly with the MT4 Platform

I also write most of my own EA’s and Indicators (C++ / C#)… so everything I run, the code is visible via algo editors or Microsoft Visual Studio…

I have 3 separate workstations in my trading office all firewalled with each having access to various accounts.

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Yes, it’s really like that, as I said, I think it’s something that depends only on our common sense and knowing where we get involved.

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The reality is they trade better than I do, they don’t hesitate, procrastinate or stress once they place the trade…and the best bit… they don’t “fiddle” with the position once they commit…

of course not, You’re completely correct
but, in the video link that i attached… Assuming things are acting erradic like this, it would be normal to assume that someone would call their broker

so… if one pulled the plug on the computer
they could then call the broker and tell the broker to shut down all trades in progress

but yes, you are right
if the MT-4 platform has sent the signal through to the broker to execute the trade,
Switching off the power to the computer will not kill the trade in progress.

You’re Welcome

DO WE KNOW THE NAME OF THE EA YET ?
so we can be aware of it

Martin, it’s an old story revived in recent days elsewhere.

Judging by the spelling of the exe likely Russian or maybe even German or possibly Turkish - or maybe even an internet myth.

Bottom line is the old advice don’t download rubbish if I don’t want trash :slight_smile:

Take care.

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oh, ok, thank you …

Fair Comment but i think relying on a robot To much is not a good Trading Strategy. for Me.

And like you said if you programmed it yourself and you Know whats happening in the Call Stack you may feel safer.
But most people Can’t and Don’t understand Debugging or Anti- Debugging (Anti-Anti-Debugging) techniques used by these people.

So you Don’t think there is Updated version or similar Products out there…?

Larger Attack Surface for your Attacker to Try and Attack…
You Know they can Penetrate Firewalls Don’t you…? !!!

Good Luck…:alien:

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If the issue was something linked to MetaQuotes or FXCM, we would have known about it and resolved to fix it. I’ve been seeing posts about this floating around since 2016 and it originated from an EA of an unknown source. When looking for EAs, you shouldn’t download EAs from unknown origins and try to look for one with a good reputation. A poorly written or even an untested EA or script can place commands to open/close trades in an infinite loop. A malicious EA can contain a virus or any number of harmful components. This could impact the platform regardless of which broker MT4 you apply the EA to. Be sure to due proper research to avoid issues that can not only harm your trading but your hardware, as well.

Jason

and… how do you plan that this is achieved ?

i mean, if i go to MQL5 and download an EA
HOW DO I ACTUALLY KNOW IT’S ORIGIN ? How does anyone ?

people shouldn’t do anything that is harmful to them either
but they still do , because instructions are not clear
saying you shouldn’t download EA’s from unknown origins is a completely useless instruction and is of no benefit to anyone.

hehe
again… show me 1 with a good reputation
Even our Classic Moving Average
do we really know it’s origin or reputation ? LOL

and the only way a person would know this is if they were a programmer.
how else would they check it ?

HARDWARE ???
How… PRAY TELL, can an EA (Software) Harm Hardware hehe
an EA cannot damage your hard drive
an EA cannot damage your motherboard or affect Surface mount components
an EA cannot damage your Optical drive
or make your mouse or keyboard explode

it’s SOFTWARE, it cannot physically damage your hardware
it’s not Firmware and is not affected your PROM

so. how exactly did you think and EA was going to harm your system

i’d be suprised if it caused the operating system as a whole to shut down,
worse case scenario, it’d affect your MT-4 and cause the process to shutdown

but, Your O/S, … Probably not .

Mate this wall of text that you wrote is nothing but random garble that doesn’t go into anything reliable or specific that is useful to the average user of MT-4
this is all generic information

backup your data
use an Anti virus software
blah blah blah blah

you make it sound nice, and i understand
but when one looks at it for what it is
it really means nothing at all
we know nothing about the EA
we can’t verify it

so… that being the case, all that you can do is Revert to normal system protection procedures.
you don’t really even need to be aware of the existence of the EA to begin with in this case,

your system will warn you if it’s a threat.

In fact, the risk of contracting this kind of virus is very high, especially if you choose free EAs

and yet we still don’t know the name of the virus apparently.
Until someone gives me a name, there is no validity to this.

you can’t have a very high infection rate of a computer virus and have it infecting people’s system’s and NOT 1 PERSON says something like “Norton said it was called this…”

has anyone actually been infected… ANYONE ???

Do Not Download any of the GoldDigger EA,s
Lol.
If u suspect you have downloaded a dodgy EA
Re-install your OS and and hope they dont have your ip.