Search results for: genieo
Genieo installer tricks keychain
Posted on August 31st, 2015 at 12:51 PM EDT
Earlier this month, an adware installer was found to be taking advantage of the DYLD_PRINT_TO_FILE vulnerability in OS X.
Now Malwarebytes researcher Adam Thomas, who discovered that issue, has found a newer variant of this installer that’s pulling some new tricks.
Read the full story on Malwarebytes Unpacked.
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Genieo changing its name?
Posted on June 19th, 2015 at 9:19 AM EDT
Earlier this month, I wrote about how new variants of the Genieo adware are proliferating. Now, however, it looks like Genieo may be changing its name. A new site, for an app called InKeepr, appears to be poised to take Genieo’s place, perhaps because of all the negative name recognition now associated with the Genieo name.
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Genieo adware proliferating
Posted on June 7th, 2015 at 9:00 AM EDT
In recent months, several new variants of the Genieo adware have crossed my path. This adware is still pulling many of the same tricks – changing the search engine to Bing, and installing all kinds of junk that runs in the background and modifies browser behavior. However, it’s now using a variety of different names, perhaps in an attempt to make detection more difficult.
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Genieo adware causing Safari crashes
Posted on December 21st, 2014 at 6:57 AM EDT
Over the last week, I’ve been seeing a lot of reports of Safari crashes on Apple’s discussion forums as well as via personal e-mail. All seem to be running Yosemite with Safari 8. Interestingly, in almost every single one of these cases, the Genieo adware was found on the machine. In every case where Genieo was found, removing Genieo solved the problem.
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Malicious download installs Genieo and GoPhoto.it adware
Posted on November 26th, 2013 at 3:39 PM EDT
I have written previously about Genieo, which is adware that has used somewhat sneaky methods to get installed in the past, and whose uninstaller leaves behind deceptively-named components that remain actively running afterwards. This is bad news, but at least Genieo has always, to my knowledge, required the user to manually run an installer clearly named “Install Genieo”, regardless of what the site it was downloaded from called it. This is no longer the case, as I have found an installer that does not behave this way. In addition, this installer also installs the GoPhoto.it adware, which I have never written about.
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Adware Removal Guide : Genieo
Posted on November 7th, 2013 at 5:22 PM EDT
Genieo (and InstallMac, another name for the same software) is perhaps the most prolific adware at the time of this writing (late 2013). It has been in active distribution for most of the year, with a very active Israeli company behind it. Although the installer is available through the company’s web site, it has also been seen numerous times being distributed through installers that pretend to be something they are not, such as fake Adobe Flash Player installers. This behavior has been blamed on third-party “partners” each time it has been observed.
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Malicious Genieo installers persist
Posted on June 21st, 2013 at 4:06 PM EDT
I wrote about the problems with Genieo a couple times last month, when it was discovered that Genieo was being downloaded through fake Flash Player update pop-ups on some sites. Further research showed suspicious code inside the Genieo installer. Following those developments, Dr. Web and Intego both decided to add detection of Genieo as malware to their anti-virus products. Folks from Genieo’s support informed me that these problems would be taken care of. Unfortunately, one month later, it looks like problems with Genieo persist.
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More details on Genieo adware
Posted on May 23rd, 2013 at 4:16 PM EDT
On Tuesday, I posted an article about a potentially malicious Genieo installer. This has resulted in a couple anti-virus companies labeling the Genieo software as a trojan. Intego revealed an interesting discovery, and I’ve also been pursuing some interesting points myself. There are some interesting developments that call into question whether this is just an isolated incident involving one of Genieo’s partners, or a problem with Genieo itself.
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Genieo adware downloaded through fake Flash updates
Posted on May 21st, 2013 at 9:41 PM EDT
For at least a couple months now, I have been hearing a lot of reports of fake Flash update notices appearing on a variety of different web sites, and resulting in the download of a Genieo installer. It has been difficult to track down a source, so that I could see this in action, but I finally found one. Although I still don’t believe that Genieo is actually malware, there is definitely some monkey business going on.
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Apple cracks down on adware
Posted on February 13th, 2015 at 7:25 AM EDT
Apple has used the XProtect anti-malware protection in Mac OS X to block a few pieces of adware in the past. Yesterday, they cracked down on adware again, adding a slew of new items to XProtect’s signatures, used for identifying and blocking malicious apps. Three are updated signatures, while one is for adware never before blocked by XProtect.
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