Tuesday, April 15, 2014

Pestering Adware

Though I may be a Linux user, and although there are programs such as 'wine' for emulating Windows-based apps in Linux, there is still software out there that can only run in Windows - including various Autodesk, Adobe, and Corel products,  and so I remain in a windows environment. And as every seasoned Windows user knows, no matter how good one's anti-malware,  -spyware, -adware, or anti-virus software is, there is always the rare occasion where it cannot do the job alone.

www.superfish.com, api.jollywallet.com, istatic.datafastguru.info, these are some of the URLs that pestered me for months and none of the programs I had available could find them. Thanks to Chrome's Console (Right Click > Inspect Element > Console) and the step-by-step descriptions provided here, I identified the foreign object and successfully removed it from my machine - no uninstalls and no system wipes!




(The following is for advanced users - a more descriptive approach can be found in the link provided above)
STEP 1:

  • - In the Registry Editor, navigate to:
    HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\Policies\Google\Chrome
  • - Delete 'ExtensionInstallForcelist' or delete all the data within.


STEP 2:

  • - Go to chrome://extensions/ and check 'Developer mode'
  • - Search for all extensions that contain the line "Installed by enterprise policy." Save their name and id
    (In my case, there was only one extension with the following information, NAME: YTBBloCkeaRApp ID meajhoiolabnglbkdopdglmmphjckgfp)
  • - Go to chrome://policy/ and click 'Show value'
  • - Next to the ID should be a path to the malicious content. Navigate to that folder destination and remove the respective content.


STEP 3:

  • Go to %AppData%\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions
  • Delete the folder with the given ID


STEP 4:

  • Go to C:\Windows\System32\GroupPolicy
  • Delete 'Machine' and 'User' folders (following this step, Chrome will notify that the unwanted extension has been uninstalled)


BONUS:

  • Re-scan to ensure all suspecting evidence is removed.




Back Story:
    When browsing the web, I ensure that I have the following Chrome extensions installed and running: HTTPSEverywhere, AdBlocker, ScriptSafe (or no-script), and Blacklist. ScriptSafe has been a wonderful extension that allows me to be selective in what runs under the hood and what doesn't - it's like disabling JavaScript but only for some websites - saving me the worry of malicious scripts installing bad subjects on my system. One of the only downsides to this is that most sites use third-party scripts to help their website function the way they intended it. Some of the most common third-party scripts is jquery.min.js, three.js, and node.js which are like JavaScript libraries that save a developer a lot of time programming and designing.
    About month or two ago, when attempting to reestablish functionality to a certain site, I mistakenly enabled an unfamiliar script. It fit right in with the others... I later found my self with about 3 trojans and 12 other objects. Malwarebytes, SpyBot, and CCleaner did what they could, but my browser's settings where altered - a new homepage, a new tabpage. Most of this was resolved with a quick reset, nevertheless, I noticed ScriptSafe displayed traces of www.superfish.com, api.jollywallet.com, and istatic.datafastguru.info. A colleague pointed me to the Chrome Extensions; sure enough there was an unauthorized extension. Removing it solved the problem - for a time.

No comments:

Post a Comment