Adware.Pirrit Description
Adware.macOS.Pirrit, Pirrit Mac Adware, or simply Pirrit, is a piece of Adware aimed at bombarding PC users with annoying pop-ups. Having bugged Windows-based machines, Pirrit has now set eyes on macOS systems, as well. Pirrit flags as a Potentially Unwanted Program (PUP) due to the intrusive nature of the ads that come with it.
A Nerve-Wracking Experience
Imagine being flooded with miscellaneous ads, banners, pop-ups, coupons, and surveys, which keep popping up while you are browsing the web. They disrupt your activity and lead you straight to a variety of suspicious websites you’ve never seen before. That’s what Pirrit does, and that’s when you should raise a red flag signifying that your Mac has come under an adware attack. Albeit a low-level threat, adware tools like Pirrit may bring you to malware-infested sites anytime. Moreover, those sites may turn out to contain much more severe pieces of malware hidden beneath the sea of pop-ups and banners generated by Pirrit itself. In the worst-case scenario, Pirrit may lead you to a Trojan capable of harvesting your banking details, login credentials, or other personal data. What is more, some victims have even complained about having had their microphones and cameras hijacked. That's why letting the Pirrit Adware reside in your Mac is a no-go.
Distribution Tactics and Operation
Adware.macOS.Pirrit typically comes as part of software bundles of popular programs users can get from the Internet. Besides the core tools, those bundles may often include lots of additional, often superfluous programs. Unless you uncheck them before installation, you will get them all, which increases the prospect of getting an adware infection like the Pirrit. Once installed, Pirrit may perform many actions such as:
- Highlighting particular words during web browsing.
- Placing hyperlinks within the viewed web content.
- Loading pop-ups until they’ve covered your whole screen, etc.
You will easily recognize you have a Pirrit adware infection when you scroll over the embedded links. If you click on a Pirrit-generated ad, the crooks behind the Adware will earn a dime or two. That explains why they have been exploiting Pirrit to plague Windows-based machines for more than six years. Here are some of Pirrit's aliases over that time:
Adware.Win32.Tirrip.f, Generic5.AUTI [AVG], Riskware/Pirrit [Fortinet], Win32.Adware.Tirrip.Wrqs, Win32/AdWare.Pirrit.A, Trj/CI.A [Panda], AdWare.Tirrip, Win32.Troj.Tirrip.f.(kcloud), GrayWare[AdWare:not-a-virus]/Win32.Tirrip [Antiy-AVL], SPR/Tool.63488.4, AdWare/Tirrip.f, RDN/Generic PUP.x!c2y [McAfee-GW-Edition], Adware.Tirrip.Win32.6, Adware.Pirrit.2 [DrWeb] and ApplicUnwnt [Comodo].
Pirrit Removal
Like any other piece of Adware, you can either delete Pirrit manually or automatically. The latter method stands a much higher chance of cleaning up all the residual files, regardless of their destination folders. So, waste no time running a reputable AV solution to regain control of your Mac.
Technical Information
File System Details
# | File Name | Size | MD5 | Detection Count |
---|---|---|---|---|
1 | %WINDIR%wauctla.exe | 188,928 | f2f28eaa6b0151e390d507749878cf13 | 3,993 |
2 | C:\Users\Ray\AppData\Local\Helper\chrome32.exe\chrome32.exe | 188,416 | bca990ab0c7b58d89a8e792d6aef4f7c | 457 |
3 | %PROGRAMFILES%\WinSystem\Cleaner\WinSystemCleaner.exe | 831,488 | 61e5aa1b041054d1f0f8d900e9320ade | 320 |
4 | %SystemDrive%\Users\JoanBrenda\AppData\Local\FileImportProgram\FileImportProgram.exe | 98,341 | 9e9b754b9ca5081a4eca625567e1262d | 191 |
5 | %LOCALAPPDATA%\GUIRootSoftware\GUIRootSoftware.exe | 98,341 | 152531bfef6e09defb06c29b0c6b0235 | 191 |
6 | C:\Users\Ray\AppData\Local\Helper\chrome64.exe\chrome64.exe | 243,712 | 37d6647b3610d838f0fd92d6a72d8462 | 182 |
7 | C:\Windows\system32\openmemdiag_64\openmemdiag_64.exe\openmemdiag_64.exe | 83,456 | 726790ac4efe16ff25705c76c299d02b | 167 |
8 | C:\Program Files (x86)\Windows Network Accelerater\v3\vxmclient.exe\vxmclient.exe | 4,586,400 | 3f6ddb4b5a066321544176c599b53a70 | 147 |
9 | %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\DriverFreewareOS\DriverFreewareOS.exe | 98,341 | 6af6c4cdf188f4e31a4d0f23224c4b79 | 138 |
10 | %WINDIR%\SysWOW64\DatabaseFAT32Firmware\DatabaseFAT32Firmware.exe | 68,096 | 8793f40f334723b0dc967c43d0413fd9 | 118 |
11 | %SystemDrive%\Users\???\AppData\Local\CGICompilerIcon\CGICompilerIcon.exe | 98,341 | 03dd7325372577b1f918f1dc43d4e8cd | 107 |
12 | %LOCALAPPDATA%\ExportFunctionGamma\ExportFunctionGamma.exe | 98,341 | 72d0641e3b4f1e6523f58ca948f0771e | 84 |
13 | %LOCALAPPDATA%\CronDirect3dWinsock\CronDirect3dWinsock.exe | 98,341 | 45d02e3c3e7c34539980b2cfdc0e739f | 82 |
14 | %LOCALAPPDATA%\ExportInterpreterODBC\ExportInterpreterODBC.exe | 98,341 | c5a19d1aba6f3fa39d9c8b229ffef6b3 | 76 |
15 | %SystemDrive%\Users\Tammy\AppData\Local\CompileMinimalSnapshot\CompileMinimalSnapshot.exe | 98,341 | 9db5393724c9795221e46bc262c6f765 | 73 |
16 | %SystemDrive%\Users\Guest\AppData\Local\DashboardMacroMotion\DashboardMacroMotion.exe | 98,341 | cb54914a0ec158e62d341ef14f20111c | 73 |
17 | %LOCALAPPDATA%\DefaultGammaTooltip\DefaultGammaTooltip.exe | 98,341 | b64eb5d608203fb2fec787b7451ad7e2 | 73 |
18 | %SystemDrive%\Users\Tammy\AppData\Local\AppOfficeRegister\AppOfficeRegister.exe | 98,341 | 67b3efe0675d8787bced4027e43325f2 | 72 |
19 | %LOCALAPPDATA%\FinderGUIOCR\FinderGUIOCR.exe | 98,341 | 1bc29840497317001b6e2b46b8013dda | 72 |
20 | %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\Direct3dProcessSnapshot\Direct3dProcessSnapshot.exe | 98,341 | b32e9d254583d8050bf7621e09a9f4ba | 70 |
21 | %USERPROFILE%\Local Settings\Application Data\JAVAOpenScreenshot\JAVAOpenScreenshot.exe | 98,341 | c2c8c46de2752cd14c1485b51c18e079 | 70 |
22 | %PROGRAMFILES%\WinSystem\Updater\WinSystemUpdater.exe | 240,640 | 988b0aa8ed363cf2e31a6e0baf737b97 | 33 |
23 | %WINDIR%\SysWOW64\DebuggerOCRSDK\DebuggerOCRSDK.exe | 69,120 | fabcb1eb1b0f2a204029837753694955 | 31 |
24 | %LOCALAPPDATA%\ApplicationClipboardDock\ApplicationClipboardDock.exe | 158,720 | 84c299db01efbd675ceecfe10b148c9a | 10 |
25 | %LOCALAPPDATA%\mswsocktspkgProvider\mswsocktspkgProvider.exe | 209,408 | b313522f02b459116dd6ec13f24712dd | 5 |
26 | %LOCALAPPDATA%\sharewaresdiagschdProt\sharewaresdiagschdProt.exe | 209,408 | 16d2a7efcec5a4d3f63f3865aa79e150 | 2 |
Registry Details
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This article is provided "as is" and to be used for educational information purposes only. By following any instructions on this article, you agree to be bound by the disclaimer. We make no guarantees that this article will help you completely remove the malware threats on your computer. Spyware changes regularly; therefore, it is difficult to fully clean an infected machine through manual means.