Akamai NetSession - Is this a virus? What is it?
Can anyone tell me what is Akamai Netsession? Is it Malware
?
I was using my computer when I got a Comodo firewall notice telling that netsession_win.exe and installer_uploader.exe are trying to connect to the internet. Both of those files names sound suspicious especially when they just randomly pop up on my firewall. I blocked them both from connecting and looking at my firewall logs since, netsession_win.exe has continually tried to connect to the internet. I have heard of "Akamai" before though and thought they were a legitimate internet company?
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According to some Google searching it's installed with some games, and even Adobe Flashplayer and Adobe CS5 and uninstalling it (which you can do it straight from the control panel and it also has an uninstall.exe in it's folder) can cause problems with the programs that share it or use it. Don't completely take my word for it though because I agree that it acts suspiciously so hopefully someone who really knows more about it will give a reliable answer!
awwww dang it...looks like you and i are heading in a world of 
!.........my stupid mouse clicker was acting up and in the process of fixing it it clicked on the accept button when the firewall noticed popped up...... >:(
I have it on my computer too, and my virus scanner and Malware detectors (I use SuperAnti Spyware and MalwareBytes
) don't tell me it's anything suspicious...
lots of people getting the same message in the past hour: http://www.google.com/search?q=windows+firewall+netsession_win.exe
It also automatically adds itself to your Windows startup in the HKCU Registry Key (HKey_Current_User). You can temporarily disable it on the next boot by getting Mike Lin's Startup program and unchecking the box next to it, or delete it's entry altogether so it doesn't run on start up at all.
I got mine too but it happen last night instead of within the last hour, on my Windows Firewall. It says it's a p2p (peer 2 peer) program and suddenly we're all getting attempts to connect. I wonder if we're all trying to connect to each other! Like for some sort of DDOS attack or something? It might be helpful to view your firewall logs and do lookups on the IP addresses that it's trying to connect to. Comodo Firewall can show them as seen in Olive Oyl's screenshot.
It is very fishy! :
:
When I went to check it never downloaded anything but it was attempting to connect to another ip address so far nothing
Installed with a game, so my input would be, if you recently installed something, like an online game, that's probably it. When you do a search for it you find several people paranoid about it, much like I was, but haven't seen one where it actually caused damage.
I have the same on my computer (c:\Users\NAME \AppData\Local\Akamai\ControlPanel_Installer.exe along with several additional final extensions) and I am pretty sure it is related to the Flash Player Update that I performed around the same time (item's install info) ...additional info below from "Akamai NetSession Interface - FAQ". Hope this helps!
What is the Akamai NetSession Interface?
The Akamai NetSession Interface is distributed networking software which greatly enhances the quality and speed of downloads and video streams you get from websites that support Akamai technology. The Akamai NetSession Interface handles the caching, reflecting and sending of files delivered to you through the Akamai network. The software is safe and secure, and does not contain any adware or spyware and never will. It can also be easily removed if you no longer wish to use it (see 'How do I uninstall the Akamai NetSession Interface?').
Why should I use the Akamai NetSession Interface?
The Akamai NetSession Interface improves the speed and quality of downloads and streams that your favorite sites are able to provide to you. You'll see a great improvement in your download experience. The client does away with much of the traffic spikes and network congestion that can make the Net a difficult place to get your content. Most sites that support the Akamai NetSession Interface do so to provide you a much richer, broadband-enabled service offering.
How does the Akamai NetSession Interface work?
When you click on a link utilizing the Akamai NetSession Interface, the technology creates efficiency and speed in several ways. The client works by coordinating all caches of content on the network, including caches on end user machines as well as thousands of Akamai edge servers distributed around the world. Mostly, the client employs significantly more intelligence in the download process: downloading from multiple sources of a file simultaneously
capable of connecting to other end user machines to help speed delivery
continually looking for (and connecting to) faster/nearer sources of a file
intelligently routing your download around network congestion and traffic spikes
What information is shared between the Akamai NetSession Interface and my computer?
The Akamai NetSession Interface captures and stores about the same information as a standard web server. The Akamai NetSession Interface is made up of various networking protocols designed to manage the distribution of files over IP networks and is solely used for that function. And just to be clear: The Akamai NetSession Interface is networking software only. Absolutely zero personal information is *ever* captured, shared or stored via the Akamai NetSession Interface.
I took a screen shot of my Comodo firewall log to show what Akamai netsession is trying to do. It looks very trojan-like!
V1010:111103_010310: [info] InstallerHelper.cpp:postInstallSteps(547): Successfully installed the client
V1001:111103_010311: [info] Installer.cpp:main(43): Started install log file uploader
V1001:111103_010311: [info] Installer.cpp:_ak_uploadLogs(2211): Uploading log file C:/Users/MyName/AppData/Local/Akamai/installer.txt, initial url is http://log.client.akadns.net/logs/
V1001:111103_010311: [info] Installer.cpp:_ak_readOrGenerateGuid(1984): GUID "98205676376573245sgffdg674eaafd" loaded from existing file "C:/Users/MyName/AppData/Local/Akamai/guid.ini"
V1001:111103_010332: [eror] Installer.cpp:_ak_uploadLogs(2263): Failure opening socket to log.client.akadns.net:80
V1010:111103_010332: [info] RS_Win32.cpp:RSWaitForProcessToExit(1023): Process executed with path 'C:/Users/MyName/AppData/Local/Akamai/installer_uploader.exe' exited with exit code 0.
{Mod Note: I took the liberty of obfuscating your user name in the screenshot in case you forgot to or didn't notice it was included.
}