In one of the more unexpected twists in the world of cybercrime, a helpdesk ticket from a bewildered IT admin has revealed that a hacker apparently installed antivirus software on a company server by mistake—instead of the malware they intended to deploy. The incident came to light when the company’s IT support team received a ticket stating, “Urgent: Hacker’s malware installation appears to be protecting our systems rather than harming them.”
According to the helpdesk notes, the attacker had gained what seemed to be unauthorized access to the company’s server with plans to unleash chaos. Instead, whoever was masquerading as a digital villain ended up running an installation wizard and deploying a top-rated antivirus program, complete with daily scan schedules and automatic updates.
“It was almost as if they were trying to help us,” said the company’s lead IT support technician, who preferred to remain anonymous because of fear the hacker might attempt a “rescue” mission. “We found logs showing the so-called hacker executed commands to install ‘ShieldSecure 3000’—a legitimate antivirus suite—and then activated firewall settings that locked out common hacking attempts. We could hardly believe it. When malware usually strikes, at least expect some chaos, but this looked like a very well-meaning IT consultant had been let loose in the system.”
The ticket also mentioned confusion on the attacker’s end, including a message left in the logs: “Why is this scanning for viruses? I wanted the ransomware script, not the security patch!” Experts believe the hacker possibly got their wires crossed after confusing their malware toolkit with a legacy security deployment folder on a compromised external drive.
The incident has since become a legend within the company, with the CTO jokingly offering the mysterious “antivirus hacker” a role on their security team. The helpdesk ticket ended with a plea: “Please advise if we should thank the hacker or reprimand them.”
Cybersecurity experts caution that while this case ended humorously, most hacks are far from accidental. Still, this unlikely outcome has brightened up what is otherwise a grim sector and serves as a reminder that sometimes, even hackers could be having a rough day.