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Adware.SearchEngineHijack is Malwarebytes’ detection name for a family of search hijackers that display advertisements in their search results.
All users may see extra sponsored advertisments on top of their search results. Chrome users may have noticed an extension promising faster, more secure, and/or more private searching.
Adware.SearchEngineHijack is usually installed by users due to promises of improved searching. The installer then hijacks the search results to a domain that belongs to the threat-actors, which will show sponsored results.
Malwarebytes protects users by blocking acces to the domains that spread and promote these extensions.
Malwarebytes can detect and remove Adware.SearchEngineHijack without further user interaction.
A Malwarebytes log of removal will look similar to this:
Malwarebytes www.malwarebytes.com -Log Details- Scan Date: 9/24/18 Scan Time: 11:21 AM Log File: 48e4d27b-bfdb-11e8-a4f1-00ffdcc6fdfc.json -Software Information- Version: 3.5.1.2522 Components Version: 1.0.441 Update Package Version: 1.0.6983 License: Premium -System Information- OS: Windows 7 Service Pack 1 CPU: x64 File System: NTFS User: {computername}\{username} -Scan Summary- Scan Type: Threat Scan Scan Initiated By: Manual Result: Completed Objects Scanned: 252029 Threats Detected: 17 Threats Quarantined: 17 Time Elapsed: 4 min, 1 sec -Scan Options- Memory: Enabled Startup: Enabled Filesystem: Enabled Archives: Enabled Rootkits: Enabled Heuristics: Enabled PUP: Detect PUM: Detect -Scan Details- Process: 0 (No malicious items detected) Module: 0 (No malicious items detected) Registry Key: 0 (No malicious items detected) Registry Value: 0 (No malicious items detected) Registry Data: 0 (No malicious items detected) Data Stream: 0 (No malicious items detected) Folder: 4 Adware.SearchEngineHijack, C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\mfeigfdafonjkmbpfaidpkmenggohpjo\1.1.2_0\_metadata, Quarantined, [336], [570731],1.0.6983 Adware.SearchEngineHijack, C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\mfeigfdafonjkmbpfaidpkmenggohpjo\1.1.2_0\icons, Quarantined, [336], [570731],1.0.6983 Adware.SearchEngineHijack, C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\mfeigfdafonjkmbpfaidpkmenggohpjo\1.1.2_0, Quarantined, [336], [570731],1.0.6983 Adware.SearchEngineHijack, C:\USERS\{username}\APPDATA\LOCAL\GOOGLE\CHROME\USER DATA\DEFAULT\EXTENSIONS\MFEIGFDAFONJKMBPFAIDPKMENGGOHPJO, Quarantined, [336], [570731],1.0.6983 File: 13 Adware.SearchEngineHijack, C:\USERS\{username}\APPDATA\LOCAL\GOOGLE\CHROME\USER DATA\Default\Secure Preferences, Replaced, [336], [570731],1.0.6983 Adware.SearchEngineHijack, C:\USERS\{username}\APPDATA\LOCAL\GOOGLE\CHROME\USER DATA\Default\Preferences, Replaced, [336], [570731],1.0.6983 Adware.SearchEngineHijack, C:\USERS\{username}\APPDATA\LOCAL\GOOGLE\CHROME\USER DATA\DEFAULT\EXTENSIONS\MFEIGFDAFONJKMBPFAIDPKMENGGOHPJO\1.1.2_0\MANIFEST.JSON, Quarantined, [336], [570731],1.0.6983 Adware.SearchEngineHijack, C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\mfeigfdafonjkmbpfaidpkmenggohpjo\1.1.2_0\icons\icon128.png, Quarantined, [336], [570731],1.0.6983 Adware.SearchEngineHijack, C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\mfeigfdafonjkmbpfaidpkmenggohpjo\1.1.2_0\icons\icon48.png, Quarantined, [336], [570731],1.0.6983 Adware.SearchEngineHijack, C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\mfeigfdafonjkmbpfaidpkmenggohpjo\1.1.2_0\_metadata\computed_hashes.json, Quarantined, [336], [570731],1.0.6983 Adware.SearchEngineHijack, C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\mfeigfdafonjkmbpfaidpkmenggohpjo\1.1.2_0\_metadata\verified_contents.json, Quarantined, [336], [570731],1.0.6983 Adware.SearchEngineHijack, C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\mfeigfdafonjkmbpfaidpkmenggohpjo\1.1.2_0\background.js, Quarantined, [336], [570731],1.0.6983 Adware.SearchEngineHijack, C:\USERS\{username}\APPDATA\LOCAL\GOOGLE\CHROME\USER DATA\Default\Web Data, Replaced, [336], [570730],1.0.6983 Adware.SearchEngineHijack, C:\USERS\{username}\APPDATA\LOCAL\GOOGLE\CHROME\USER DATA\Default\Web Data, Replaced, [336], [460701],1.0.6983 Adware.SearchEngineHijack, C:\USERS\{username}\APPDATA\LOCAL\GOOGLE\CHROME\USER DATA\Default\Web Data, Replaced, [336], [460701],1.0.6983 Adware.SearchEngineHijack, C:\USERS\{username}\APPDATA\LOCAL\GOOGLE\CHROME\USER DATA\Default\Web Data, Replaced, [336], [460701],1.0.6983 Adware.SearchEngineHijack, C:\USERS\{username}\APPDATA\LOCAL\GOOGLE\CHROME\USER DATA\Default\Web Data, Replaced, [336], [460701],1.0.6983 Physical Sector: 0 (No malicious items detected) WMI: 0 (No malicious items detected) (end)
You may see these entries in FRST logs:
CHR DefaultSearchURL: Default -> hxxps://searchprivacyplus.com/results.php?p=6000&v=400&q={searchTerms}&source=default CHR DefaultSearchKeyword: Default -> Secure CHR DefaultSuggestURL: Default -> hxxps://searchprivacyplus.com/gjson.php?q={searchTerms} CHR Extension: (Secure) - C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\mfeigfdafonjkmbpfaidpkmenggohpjo
Chrome extensions:
mfeigfdafonjkmbpfaidpkmenggohpjo
dgldcllfgcheelimlbmilnkilnamlhbd
ggnceihnaabghbfmifjmofepelnahpjb
Domains:
searchprivacyplus.com
elastisearch.com
securedsearch.xyz
bettersearch.co
searchdimension.com
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