Adware.Sogou

Short bio

Adware.Sogou is Malwarebytes’ detection name for adware that primarily targets Chinese users. Sogou is the name of one of the main search engines in China.

Symptoms

Users may notice a changed startpage or default search provider in their browser. They may also see advertisements that are not originating from the sites they are visiting.

Type and source of infection

Adware.Sogou started out as a Browser Helper Object for Internet Explorer but has adapted to the market for online searches by expanding to other browsers and Operating Systems. It shows advertisements in the form of popups.

Adware.Sogou is usually installed by bundlers.

Protection

Malwarebytes protects users from Adware.Sogou by using real-time protection.

Malwarebytes blocks Adware.Sogou

Business remediation

How to remove Adware.Sogou with the Malwarebytes Nebula console

You can use the Malwarebytes Anti-Malware Nebula console to scan endpoints.

Nebula endpoint tasks menu

Choose the Scan + Quarantine option. Afterwards you can check the Detections page to see which threats were found.

On the Quarantine page you can see which threats were quarantined and restore them if necessary.

Remediation

Malwarebytes can detect and remove Adware.Sogou without further user interaction.

1. Please download Malwarebytes to your desktop.
2. Double-click MBSetup.exe and follow the prompts to install the program.
3. When your Malwarebytes for Windows installation completes, the program opens to the Welcome to Malwarebytes screen.
4. Click on the Get started button.
5. Click Scan to start a Threat Scan.
6. Click Quarantine to remove the found threats.
7. Reboot the system if prompted to complete the removal process.

Traces/IOCs

Registry keys:

HKCR\Software\SogouExplorer

HKLM\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall\SogouExplorer

Folders:

• %PROGRAMFILES%\SogouExplorer
• %PROGRAMFILES%\PushWare
• %PROGRAMFILES%\SogouSoftware