OpticalUpdater is an unwanted program that mostly spread via Fake Adobe Flash player update. It is mainly designed to promote fake search engine by the modifying browser setting and delivers intrusive advertisements. It has tendency as a web browser hijacker and adware program. It also designed to collect users browsing activities. Most of the users download or install System Software unintentionally so that it is classified as a potentially Unwanted program (PUAs).
The main aim of this Browser hijacker is to hijack all popular and mostly used web browsers like as Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Safari, Edge and others. It makes the browser so strange by the several alternations like as homepage, search engine and DNS setting. Due to the changes of DNS setting users are unable to search any site as usual. It replaces the homepage and default search engine with fake searching site URL. So that while users search any query on it, open new tab and paste URL then they redirect to the sponsored site. It is common that fake search engine never get relevant search result so they redirect to Google, Yahoo, Bing and other genuine search engine and displayed results generated by them with some sponsored ads.
The most common names for this malware are MacDefender, MacProtector and MacSecurity. Apple released a free software update (Security Update 2011-003) that will automatically find and remove Mac Defender malware and its known variants. Malwarebytes for Mac’s free version is about as streamlined as an antivirus software can get. It will scan your system and remove Mac-based malware with really impressive consistency, but it won’t do much else.
As an adware program OpticalUpdater delivers various kinds of annoying and intrusive advertisements including coupons, banners, discounts and other intrusive ads that looks very attractive at the first inspection. But malicious links or content hides into them. Once clicking on these intrusive adverts redirect to various questionable and malicious site and the installation of some potentially unwanted program. These ads are mainly designed to diminish the browsing experience by downpour surfing speed as well as covering the page content. Scammers behind these ads generate illegal revenue on pay per click technique. So we are highly advice do not click on such ads even accidentally.
More Harmful Effects Cause by OpticalUpdater:
It can corrupt your System files and Windows registries as well as create duplicate file as a similar name to regenerate itself after removal. It disables the System security and privacy by inactivate firewall, task manager, control panel and real antivirus program to makes the PC defenceless. It opens back doors to install other harmful infections like as malware, spyware, Trojan, Ransomware to makes the PC more damage quickly.
It has data tracking abilities, so it tracks users online browsing data like as search queries, web histories, cookies and pages viewed etc. It also monitors online keys habits to collect personal and confidential information like as email-id, password, bank account details, IP address, geo-locations etc. After that share such details to the Cyber offender for illegal use such as fake purchasing, fraudulent, transaction money and even identity theft. To protect your System privacy issues and financial losses, it is highly advice to remove OpticalUpdater as quickly as possible.
How did OpticalUpdater get inside into your PC:
OpticalUpdater commonly get inside into the System via the bundling method. Bundling is a deceptive marketing technique of packing regular software with unwanted and malicious additions. Most of the users download or install System software via third party download channels such as software.com, downloader.com and third party downloader site. They often skip custom, advance and other important settings. Skipping such setting cause the installation of potentially unwanted software.
How To Avoiding the installation of potentially Unwanted Program:
It is highly advice do not download and install System software from third party downloader site. Software must be downloading and install from official and trustworthy download channels. It is important to read the installation guide carefully till the end. Must select custom, advance and other important settings. Clicking on the malicious ads cause the infiltration of malicious infection. So do not click on them even accidentally. Must scan the PC with reputable antimalware tool regularly. If your System is really infected with unwanted ads then we are highly advice to remove OpticalUpdater by using automatic removal tool.
Mac users can download and check if the free scanner can help cleaning OpticalUpdater from their infected system
Remove OpticalUpdater from Mac OS X system
We are going to discussion two possible ways to perform OpticalUpdater removal 1) Manual Removal and 2) Automatic Removal method. The Manual process is more suited to the people who know their system really well. This method is quite unreliable, takes lots of time and need technical skills. Any mistakes during the process can cause major damage to your system. If you cannot reverse such damages, use Automatic Removal Method. It is easy to detect and remove any malicious programs like OpticalUpdater from the device using some reputable antivirus tools like Combo Cleaner. Such tools also offer other important tools like duplicate files finder, clean junk files, huge file finder, privacy protection, browser cleaning and Mac speed booster. For the convenience, we are here providing you both the manual and automatic instruction one by one.
How to remove OpticalUpdater manually?
First of all, open the Utilities folder on your Mac
Search for the option Activity Monitor and double-click on it
Select malicious or suspicious processes related to the OpticalUpdater and click on the cross button from the upper left side corner to end the task
When a pop-up dialogue box appears on the screen, click on the Force Quit button
The OpticalUpdater can keep coming back on the device if the core files are not completely removed. We recommend you downloading Combo Cleaner. Using this, you can remove all the hidden files and also save time and effort as well.
Automatically remove OpticalUpdater from the Mac OS X
Click on the link to download Combo Cleaner Antivirus on your Mac
Drag the install file to Applications folder to install the program
Go to Antivirus tab, Select Scan Mode and press Start Scan button
Software will find all the files. You just click on the Remove all the threats button
Remove OpticalUpdater from Applications
Click Go button at the top left of the screen and select Applications
Wait till the Applications folder appears, and look for OpticalUpdater or other suspicious programs on it and then right click on each entry and select Move to Trash
Remove OpticalUpdater related files and folders
Click the Finder icon (from menu bar), choose Go and select Go to Folder
Step 1:Check the malware generated files in the Library/LaunchAgents folder
In the Go to folder…. bar, type /Library/LaunchAgents
Look for any recently added suspicious files in this folder. Such files could be “installmac.AppRemoval.plist”, “myppes.download.plist”, “mykotlerino.ltvbit.plist”, “kuklorest.update.plist”, etc. If you find any similar, move them to the Trash.
Step 2:Erase the suspicious files from “/Library/Application” Support folder
Type “/Library/Application Support” in this folder
In the Application Support folder, you may find MplayerX or NicePlayer or other similar suspicious folders. Move these folders to the Trash.
Step 3: Check the /Library/LaunchDaemons Folder for the suspicious files created by malware
In the Go to Folder… bar, type /Library/LaunchDaemons
In the LaunchDaemons folder, search for the files “com.aoudad.net-preferences.plist”, “com.myppes.net-preferences.plist”, “com.kuklorest.net-preferences.plist”, “com.avickUpd.plist”, etc and move them to the Trash
Step 4: Use Combo Cleaner and scan your Mac
After performing all the steps mentioned before in correct manner, your Mac should be cleaned of the infections. However, you must ensure this by running a scan to the power-station with Combo cleaner anti-virus.
After the download, double click the combocleaner.dmg installer in the opened Window drag and drop the antivirus tool icon on the top of the Application icon. Thereafter, open the Launchpad and press on Combo Cleaner icon. The Combo Cleaner then starts update its virus definition database – you should have to wait till the moment till the process is completed. Next thing you do is to click on the Start Combo Scan button.
The anti-malware tool starts scanning your Mac device for malware infections. After the scanning, if it displays no threats found – you can continue with the removal guide, otherwise you have to perform removal of the found infections.
After removing the files and folders generated by the malware, the next thing you do is to remove the rogue extensions installed on the Internet browsers.
Remove OpticalUpdater from Internet browsers
Instruction on removing suspicious Safari extensions:
Open Safari from the menu bar, select Safari and click preferences
In the preferences window, select extensions and search for recently installed suspicious extensions. If any such extensions located, click on uninstall button next to them.
Generally, users can simply remove all these extensions. However, if you have any problems with the browser redirects and the unwanted advertisements, we recommend you “Reset the Safari”. The reset feature is capable of fixing various issues related to the browser hijackers and adware. Also, the resetting the browser does not mean that the essential information such as bookmarks and open tabs will also be deleted. By using the steps, you will reset the extensions, themes, search engines, security settings, plug-ins settings, toolbar customization, user styles and other settings. Here are the step by step instructions on performing the steps:
Open the Safari main menu and Choose Preferences from the drop down menu
Go to the Extension tab, and turn off the extension slider to disable all the installed extensions in the Safari browser.
Next step is to check the homepage. Go to the preferences option and choose General tab. Change the homepage option to the default one
If the search engine also got changed, you can set default or other web searcher according to your choice. For this, go to the preferences window and select the “Search” tab and select the search engine provider that you want to
Next thing you need to do is to clear the browser Cache. For this, go to the preferences window and select the “Advanced” tab and click on the show develop menu in the menu bar
Then, Select Empty Caches from the Develop menu
Thereafter, remove the website data and the browsing history. Go to Safari menu and select Clear History and Website Data. Choose all history and then click on Clear History.
Guides on removing malicious plug-ins from Mozilla Firefox:
Open the Mozilla Firefox, Click on the Menu at the right top corner of the screen. From the opened menu, choose Add-ons
Choose the Extension tab for the recently added suspicious add-ons, if located -click the Remove button next to them. You can safely uninstall all the extensions, however, if you find any trouble, we recommend you Reset the Mozilla Firefox.
Open the Mozilla Firefox and click on the Firefox button (at the top left corner of the main window)
In this menu, look for Help sub-menu and select Troubleshooting information
In this information page, click on the Reset Firefox button
On the opened Windows, you can reset the settings to the default by clicking on the Reset Firefox button
Mozilla Firefox restart and the settings will be set to the default
Steps to remove malicious extensions from Chrome browsers:
Open the Chrome browser and click on the Chrome menu. In the drop down menu, choose More Tools and then Extensions:
In the Extension Window, look for recently added malicious add-ons and move it to the Trash and any such extensions are located. Note that, you can safely install all the extensions from the Google Chrome browser. However, if you have any problems with the browser redirects and the advertisements –Reset the Google Chrome. Follow these steps in order to reset the browser, disable the extensions and set the default search engine, homepage and startup tabs.
Open Google Chrome and click on the bars icon at the top right corner of the page
In the settings page, scroll down to it to find Show Advanced settings
Search the Reset browser settings option and click on it
Click on the Reset button on the opened page
Restart the Google Chrome to changes to take effect
Mac users can download and check if the free scanner can help cleaning OpticalUpdater from their infected system
Protect your Mac from Malware
Mac OS has many features that help you protect the device and the personal information from malicious software or malware. One common way malware is distributed is by embedding it with some regular app. You can reduce this risk using software only from reliable sources. The Security and Privacy settings allow you to specify the sources of the software installed on the device. In addition to this, other types of malware may not be safe. These could be web archives and Java archives. Of course, not all files like this are unsafe, but you should be cautious when opening any such downloaded file. An alert appears when you first try to open them which are an indication of something suspicious. Keeping some antivirus tool installed on the device is also help in achieving system security.
Mac users can download and check if the free scanner can help cleaning DefaultTool ads from their infected system
Remove DefaultTool ads from Mac OS X system
We are going to discussion two possible ways to perform DefaultTool ads removal 1) Manual Removal and 2) Automatic Removal method. The Manual process is more suited to the people who know their system really well. This method is quite unreliable, takes lots of time and need technical skills. Any mistakes during the process can cause major damage to your system. If you cannot reverse such damages, use Automatic Removal Method. It is easy to detect and remove any malicious programs like DefaultTool ads from the device using some reputable antivirus tools like Combo Cleaner. Such tools also offer other important tools like duplicate files finder, clean junk files, huge file finder, privacy protection, browser cleaning and Mac speed booster. For the convenience, we are here providing you both the manual and automatic instruction one by one.
How to remove DefaultTool ads manually?
First of all, open the Utilities folder on your Mac
Search for the option Activity Monitor and double-click on it
Select malicious or suspicious processes related to the DefaultTool ads and click on the cross button from the upper left side corner to end the task
When a pop-up dialogue box appears on the screen, click on the Force Quit button
The DefaultTool ads can keep coming back on the device if the core files are not completely removed. We recommend you downloading Combo Cleaner. Using this, you can remove all the hidden files and also save time and effort as well.
Automatically remove DefaultTool ads from the Mac OS X
Click on the link to download Combo Cleaner Antivirus on your Mac
Drag the install file to Applications folder to install the program
Go to Antivirus tab, Select Scan Mode and press Start Scan button
Software will find all the files. You just click on the Remove all the threats button
Remove DefaultTool ads from Applications
Click Go button at the top left of the screen and select Applications
Wait till the Applications folder appears, and look for DefaultTool ads or other suspicious programs on it and then right click on each entry and select Move to Trash
Remove DefaultTool ads related files and folders
Click the Finder icon (from menu bar), choose Go and select Go to Folder
Step 1:Check the malware generated files in the Library/LaunchAgents folder
In the Go to folder…. bar, type /Library/LaunchAgents
Look for any recently added suspicious files in this folder. Such files could be “installmac.AppRemoval.plist”, “myppes.download.plist”, “mykotlerino.ltvbit.plist”, “kuklorest.update.plist”, etc. If you find any similar, move them to the Trash.
Step 2:Erase the suspicious files from “/Library/Application” Support folder
Type “/Library/Application Support” in this folder
In the Application Support folder, you may find MplayerX or NicePlayer or other similar suspicious folders. Move these folders to the Trash.
Step 3: Check the /Library/LaunchDaemons Folder for the suspicious files created by malware
In the Go to Folder… bar, type /Library/LaunchDaemons
In the LaunchDaemons folder, search for the files “com.aoudad.net-preferences.plist”, “com.myppes.net-preferences.plist”, “com.kuklorest.net-preferences.plist”, “com.avickUpd.plist”, etc and move them to the Trash
Step 4: Use Combo Cleaner and scan your Mac
After performing all the steps mentioned before in correct manner, your Mac should be cleaned of the infections. However, you must ensure this by running a scan to the power-station with Combo cleaner anti-virus.
After the download, double click the combocleaner.dmg installer in the opened Window drag and drop the antivirus tool icon on the top of the Application icon. Thereafter, open the Launchpad and press on Combo Cleaner icon. The Combo Cleaner then starts update its virus definition database – you should have to wait till the moment till the process is completed. Next thing you do is to click on the Start Combo Scan button.
The anti-malware tool starts scanning your Mac device for malware infections. After the scanning, if it displays no threats found – you can continue with the removal guide, otherwise you have to perform removal of the found infections.
After removing the files and folders generated by the malware, the next thing you do is to remove the rogue extensions installed on the Internet browsers.
Remove DefaultTool ads from Internet browsers
Instruction on removing suspicious Safari extensions:
Open Safari from the menu bar, select Safari and click preferences
In the preferences window, select extensions and search for recently installed suspicious extensions. If any such extensions located, click on uninstall button next to them.
Generally, users can simply remove all these extensions. However, if you have any problems with the browser redirects and the unwanted advertisements, we recommend you “Reset the Safari”. The reset feature is capable of fixing various issues related to the browser hijackers and adware. Also, the resetting the browser does not mean that the essential information such as bookmarks and open tabs will also be deleted. By using the steps, you will reset the extensions, themes, search engines, security settings, plug-ins settings, toolbar customization, user styles and other settings. Here are the step by step instructions on performing the steps:
Open the Safari main menu and Choose Preferences from the drop down menu
Go to the Extension tab, and turn off the extension slider to disable all the installed extensions in the Safari browser.
Next step is to check the homepage. Go to the preferences option and choose General tab. Change the homepage option to the default one
If the search engine also got changed, you can set default or other web searcher according to your choice. For this, go to the preferences window and select the “Search” tab and select the search engine provider that you want to
Next thing you need to do is to clear the browser Cache. For this, go to the preferences window and select the “Advanced” tab and click on the show develop menu in the menu bar
Then, Select Empty Caches from the Develop menu
Thereafter, remove the website data and the browsing history. Go to Safari menu and select Clear History and Website Data. Choose all history and then click on Clear History.
Guides on removing malicious plug-ins from Mozilla Firefox:
Open the Mozilla Firefox, Click on the Menu at the right top corner of the screen. From the opened menu, choose Add-ons
Choose the Extension tab for the recently added suspicious add-ons, if located -click the Remove button next to them. You can safely uninstall all the extensions, however, if you find any trouble, we recommend you Reset the Mozilla Firefox.
Open the Mozilla Firefox and click on the Firefox button (at the top left corner of the main window)
In this menu, look for Help sub-menu and select Troubleshooting information
In this information page, click on the Reset Firefox button
On the opened Windows, you can reset the settings to the default by clicking on the Reset Firefox button
Mozilla Firefox restart and the settings will be set to the default
Steps to remove malicious extensions from Chrome browsers:
Open the Chrome browser and click on the Chrome menu. In the drop down menu, choose More Tools and then Extensions:
In the Extension Window, look for recently added malicious add-ons and move it to the Trash and any such extensions are located. Note that, you can safely install all the extensions from the Google Chrome browser. However, if you have any problems with the browser redirects and the advertisements –Reset the Google Chrome. Follow these steps in order to reset the browser, disable the extensions and set the default search engine, homepage and startup tabs.
Open Google Chrome and click on the bars icon at the top right corner of the page
In the settings page, scroll down to it to find Show Advanced settings
Search the Reset browser settings option and click on it
Click on the Reset button on the opened page
Restart the Google Chrome to changes to take effect
Mac users can download and check if the free scanner can help cleaning DefaultTool ads from their infected system
Protect your Mac from Malware
Mac OS has many features that help you protect the device and the personal information from malicious software or malware. One common way malware is distributed is by embedding it with some regular app. You can reduce this risk using software only from reliable sources. The Security and Privacy settings allow you to specify the sources of the software installed on the device. In addition to this, other types of malware may not be safe. These could be web archives and Java archives. Of course, not all files like this are unsafe, but you should be cautious when opening any such downloaded file. An alert appears when you first try to open them which are an indication of something suspicious. Keeping some antivirus tool installed on the device is also help in achieving system security.
By Eddie Lee and Krishna Kona
A couple of months ago, as we rang in 2016, we thought it would be interesting to take a quick look back at some OSX malware from 2015 and 2014. As reported by the team at Bit9+Carbon Black [1], 2015 marked “the most prolific year in history for OS X malware”. We collected a few samples of malware named in that report, along with some samples of other notable OSX malware, with the intention of learning more about them and fill in any gaps in our detection mechanisms (NIDS and Correlation rules). Although our primary objective was to capture network traffic from the malware samples, we were also interested in other aspects of the malware like persistence mechanisms (if any) that they utilized, so we documented that activity as well.
To start off with, we reviewed Flashback, one of the most infamous pieces of OS X malware that reminded everyone to the fact that OS X is not immune to malware. After that, we played with KitM, which is spyware, and LaoShu, a RAT. Then we analyzed Mask, a sophisticated malware that was used for cyber espionage. We also looked into CoinThief malware that steals bitcoins from the infected machine and the WireLurker malware that is capable of infecting iPhone devices connected to the compromised machine. Finally, we analyzed OceanLotus that was discovered May last year and found to be attacking Chinese government infrastructure. Below is a summary of our findings from analyzing the samples in a sandbox – the findings include links to fully executable samples, IDS signatures, persistence mechanisms and C&C details.
OS X Malware Details
Flashback
Description: Flashback masquerades as Adobe Flash player update or a signed-java applet. Downloads/installs Web Traffic Interception component to inject ads into HTTP/HTTPS streams http://go.eset.com/us/resources/white-papers/osx_flashback.pdf [no longer available].
Persistence mechanism: Installs a malicious file in user's home directory with the filename starting with a ‘dot' to hide itself and installs a LaunchAgent in ~/Library/LaunchAgents to refer to the created malicious file.
C&C communication: Uses DGA for CnC domain names and twitter hashtags to decode the address of CnC server.
Description: LaoShu is a data stealing RAT. It has functionality to search for files, ex-filtrate files, download new file, and execute arbitrary commands [6].
Description: This is a state-of-the-art malware with Windows, Mac OS and Linux variants. The OS X variant uses a backdoor based on the open source Shadowinteger's Backdoor (SBD) [7].
Sample: https://www.virustotal.com/en/file/0710be16ba8a36712c3cac21776c8846e29897300271f09ba0a41983e370e1a0/analysis/ (Verified executability: tries to connect to itunes212[dot]appleupdt[dot]com)
Persistence mechanism: Installs a LaunchAgent at Library/LaunchAgents/com.apple.launchport.plist and references a malicious binary in /Applications/.DS_Store.app
C&C servers:
itunes212[dot]appleupdt[dot]com
itunes214[dot]appleupdt[dot]com
itunes311[dot]appleupdt[dot]com
(As of Feb 6, 2014, the above C&C domains have been suspended by Apple.)
AlienVault Detections:
IDS
Existing SIDs: 2021712, 2021714, 2021715
New rules: https://github.com/AlienVault-Labs/AlienVaultLabs/blob/master/malware_analysis/OSX_Malware/snort_careto.rules
System Compromise, Targeted Malware, Careto
CoinThief
Description: CoinThief installs browser extensions to steal credentials to popular Bitcoin wallet sites [8].
Persistence mechanism: Which is the best browser for mac. Installs a LaunchAgent and browser extensions.
The LaunchAgent is installed at ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.google.softwareUpdateAgent.plist and references a malicious binary at ~/Library/Application Support/.com.google.softwareUpdateAgent/com.google.softwareUpdateAgent.
A Safari extensions is installed at ~/Library/Safari/Extensions/Pop-Up Blocker.safariextz.
A Chrome extensions is installed at ~/Library/Application Support/Google/Chrome/Default/DefaultApps/noehjlabkmejilomimnebjkdjaoomabh/1.0.0_0.
System Compromise, Mobile trojan infection, WireLurker
OceanLotus
Description: OceanLotus is malware that has been used against Chinese targets and essentially gives attackers full control over a compromised machine [10] [11].
Persistence mechanism: Installs a LaunchAgent at ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.google.plugins.plist and references a malicious binary at ~/Library/Logs/.Logs/corevideosd
The samples we looked at used well known [2] persistence mechanisms and were not difficult to detect. Specifically, the samples that we looked at use the following persistence mechanisms: launch agents, launch daemons, login items, and browser extensions. For those that aren't familiar with how these mechanisms are used, below is a short summary. Pdf link editor mac.
Launch daemons: These are start-up programs that run when the system first boots up.
Items in /Library/LaunchDaemons and /System/Library/LaunchDaemons load when OSX starts up, and run as the root user.
Launch agents: These are start-up programs that are executed on a per-user basis.
Items in /Library/LaunchAgents and /System/Library/LaunchAgents load when any user logs in, and run as that user.
Items in ~/Library/LaunchAgents load only when that particular user logs in, and run as that user.
Login items
These programs are run at the end of the login process and can be found in ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.loginitems.plist. The login items can be viewed in System Preferences -> Users & Groups -> [User Name] -> Login Items
Browser extensions
These are plugins that are loaded when a user starts a web browser such as Safari, Chrome, Firefox or Opera. These plugins are often used to monitor browser activity and steal sensitive information such as login credentials. Although the samples we looked at used browser extensions, malicious plugins are not limited to browsers – malicious plugins can be added to a variety of applications that support plugins.
Best Free Mac Malware Software
OTX Stats
In addition to gathering samples, we also took a look at some statistics from Open Threat Exchange (OTX). The top 3 offenders that we saw in that data were:
OSX/Flashback User-Agent (49.5%)
OSX ADWARE/Mackeeper (26.6%)
OSX/WireLurker (23.7%)
This represents slightly over 20k events and includes only data prior to us enhancing our detection capabilities, so it doesn't include hits for OceanLotus, LaoShu, CoinThief, or KitM.
The following pulses from Open Threat Exchange (OTX) are related to the samples we examined:
We found this exercise to be quite useful as it allowed us to get better acquainted with the behavior of the above malware and we were indeed able to improve our detection capabilities. Part of the process was to obtain fully functional OSX malware samples, but we found that can sometimes be difficult since many samples on VirusTotal are stand-alone executables rather than full '.app' bundles. Hopefully, we have made it a little easier for you to perform your own analysis by including links to fully executable samples.
Although this was an interesting exercise, we noted that most of the C&C servers have been taken offline, so the risk associated with these samples is not high. However, any signs of activity from these samples could be an indication of a deeper compromise so they should not be summarily dismissed.
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Looking Ahead
Best Malware For Mac
Apple is making strong inroads in the corporate space. Apple's rising market share is making it lucrative for malware authors to write more OSX malware. In the Silicon Valley (where we are headquartered), many startups offer Macbooks as the default laptop when onboarding new hires. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that as the adoption of OSX increases, so will the prevalence of OSX-based malware. Furthermore, 2015 has been a tremendous year for OSX-based vulnerability disclosure [3]. As the number of known vulnerabilities increase, we expect more malware will take advantage of those flaws.