Cybercriminals seem to be finding new tricks to spread new Ebola , and in one of their latest efforts, they have created a tool that claims to warn users of an outbreak of the disease in a nearby area.
In order to take advantage of such a “service”, users must download and install an application on their computer. To make the user download the file faster and not think about any other action, a siren starts to sound and the only way to stop it is to save the file on the computer.
The file is detected as malicious by about 18 antiviruses out of 53 listed on VirusTotal, but initially detection was minimal.
Jovi Umawing from Malwarebytes analyzed the file and found that it adds a search toolbar to the system during installation, along with a plethora of other offers, likely as part of a marketing campaign that puts money in the pockets of the crooks for each installation of the program.
After the user installs the programs, the browsing experience is disrupted in many ways, from changing the search engine to loading advertising websites when a new browser tab is opened, or a page offering even more programs for the user to download.
Apart from this, system performance is affected and shortcuts of unwanted programs are added to the system and desktop.
