Demi JenkinsThere’s a dangerous persistent malware campaign running on the loose. Hackers are injecting fraudulent ads into search results and trying to gain the victim’s personal information. According to a notice published by a renowned firm, this malware has spread like wildfire in the market. The wiring is finding its way into devices since the beginning of May. By now, it has successfully infiltrated more than 30,000 different devices. During the summer season, the attacks peaked at an alarming rate.
As the cybersecurity experts have termed it, Adrozek malware is a leading malware with a capability of modifying a number of popular browsers including Chrome, FireFox, and Edge. These three browsers make up 70% of the entire browser market share.
About the Aldrozek Malware
According to Microsoft, the malware is currently lying across 159 malicious domains. The number is eventually growing as more and more domains are becoming a victim. Every one of these domains are hosting more than 17,300 distinct URLs and this is just an average number. This number relatively keeps growing by the day as more URLs are getting associated with these websites.
Microsoft further revealed that these domains contain thousands of unique malware samples which can infect the entire network ecosystem. They are sophistically designed to bypass security tools.
The extent of threat this malware can have on the Internet ecosystem is best explained by Microsoft,
“If not detected and blocked, Adrozek adds browser extensions, modifies a specific DLL per target browser, and changes browser settings to insert additional, unauthorized ads into web pages, often on top of legitimate ads from search engines,”
Microsoft further concludes,
“The intended effect is for users, searching for certain keywords, to inadvertently click on these malware-inserted ads, which lead to affiliate pages. The attackers earn through affiliate advertising programs, which pay by the amount of traffic referred to sponsored affiliated pages.”
Because of the legality issues surrounding affiliates using malware to attract wanted visitors, this particular method of earning becomes a limited threat for its online victims.
It’s not the only way how Adrozek is creating problems for the online world. A specific malware type holds the capability to create a backdoor in Mozilla Firefox and lift up user credentials which are stored on-device. This allows potential paths for hackers to perform identity theft easily.
It’s why Microsoft believes that addressing Adrozek is highly important.
To avoid Adrozek from infecting personal computers, Microsoft advises its users to stop downloading unwanted files from unknown and badly reputable sources. It can rely on antivirus services for protection. Anyone who suspects that they have suffered from the infection should uninstall/re-install the browser which is possibly infected with the Adrozek.
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Sarah Carter