What is Secure Way?
The Malwarebytes research team has determined that Secure Way is a browser hijacker. These so-called "hijackers" manipulate your browser(s), for example to change your startpage or searchscopes, so that the affected browser visits their site or one of their choice.
This particular one changes your default search provider.
How do I know if my computer is affected by Secure Way?
You may see this entry in your list of installed Chrome extensions:
You may have noticed these warnings during install:
and this changed setting:
How did Secure Way get on my computer?
Browser hijackers use different methods for distributing themselves. This particular one was downloaded from the webstore:
How do I remove Secure Way?
Our program Malwarebytes can detect and remove this search hijacker.
- Please download Malwarebytes for Windows to your desktop.
- Double-click MBSetup.exe and follow the prompts to install the program.
- When your Malwarebytes for Windows installation completes, the program opens to the Welcome to Malwarebytes screen.
- Click on the Get started button.
- Click Scan to start a Threat Scan.
- When the scan is finished click Quarantine to remove the found threats.
- Reboot the system if prompted to complete the removal process.
- No, Malwarebytes removes Secure Way completely.
We hope our application and this guide have helped you eradicate this hijacker.
Malwarebytes Browser Guard, and the full version of Malwarebytes would have protected you against the Secure Way hijacker. It would have blocked the website promoting the extension, giving you a chance to stop it before it became too late.
Technical details for experts
Possible signs in FRST logs:
CHR DefaultSearchURL: Default -> hxxps://search.secureway.club/chrome/newtab/searchresults.aspx?src=ds&pid=swaydf&q={searchTerms}&v=1.0&gid=456 CHR DefaultSearchKeyword: Default -> Secure Way CHR DefaultSuggestURL: Default -> hxxps://www.secureway.club/ntapi/suggestions/rd?q={searchTerms} CHR Extension: (Secure Way) - C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\kiecgjlpcjehhjbpdkffhkcbikpdnpkn [2021-08-03]Alterations made by the installer:
File system details [View: All details] (Selection) --------------------------------------------------- Adds the folder C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\kiecgjlpcjehhjbpdkffhkcbikpdnpkn\1.0_0 Adds the file browseraction_release.js"="6/21/2021 6:18 PM, 2524 bytes, A Adds the file manifest.json"="8/3/2021 9:09 AM, 1763 bytes, A Adds the folder C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\kiecgjlpcjehhjbpdkffhkcbikpdnpkn\1.0_0\_metadata Adds the file computed_hashes.json"="8/3/2021 9:09 AM, 829 bytes, A Adds the file verified_contents.json"="6/21/2021 6:18 PM, 2243 bytes, A Adds the folder C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\kiecgjlpcjehhjbpdkffhkcbikpdnpkn\1.0_0\common Adds the file contentscript.js"="6/21/2021 6:18 PM, 637 bytes, A Adds the folder C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\kiecgjlpcjehhjbpdkffhkcbikpdnpkn\1.0_0\img Adds the file logo.png"="6/21/2021 6:18 PM, 24267 bytes, A Adds the file logo_128x.png"="8/3/2021 9:09 AM, 5947 bytes, A Adds the file logo_16x.png"="8/3/2021 9:09 AM, 562 bytes, A Adds the file logo_48x.png"="8/3/2021 9:09 AM, 1929 bytes, A Adds the folder C:\Users\{username}\AppData\Local\Google\Chrome\User Data\Default\Extensions\kiecgjlpcjehhjbpdkffhkcbikpdnpkn\1.0_0\pages Adds the file popup.html"="6/21/2021 6:18 PM, 236 bytes, A Adds the file popupstyle.css"="6/21/2021 6:18 PM, 108 bytes, A Registry details [View: All details] (Selection) ------------------------------------------------ [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Google\Chrome\PreferenceMACs\Default\extensions.settings] "kiecgjlpcjehhjbpdkffhkcbikpdnpkn"="REG_SZ", "478AC6FE641C256B436AA42A3FA4F0DB93C084771C25C452A871F68FA8E30DF2"Malwarebytes log:
Malwarebytes www.malwarebytes.com -Log Details- Scan Date: 8/3/21 Scan Time: 9:16 AM Log File: ca580f30-f42a-11eb-b529-080027235d76.json -Software Information- Version: 4.4.4.126 Components Version: 1.0.1413 Update Package Version: 1.0.43830 License: Premium -System Information- OS: Windows 7 Service Pack 1 CPU: x64 File System: NTFS User: {username}-PC\{username} -Scan Summary- Scan Type: Threat Scan Scan Initiated By: Manual Result: Completed Objects Scanned: 258060 Threats Detected: 6 Threats Quarantined: 6 Time Elapsed: 1 min, 33 sec -Scan Options- Memory: Enabled Startup: Enabled Filesystem: Enabled Archives: Enabled Rootkits: Disabled Heuristics: Enabled PUP: Detect PUM: Detect -Scan Details- Process: 0 (No malicious items detected) Module: 0 (No malicious items detected) Registry Key: 0 (No malicious items detected) Registry Value: 1 PUP.Optional.PushNotifications.Generic, HKCU\SOFTWARE\GOOGLE\CHROME\PREFERENCEMACS\Default\extensions.settings|kiecgjlpcjehhjbpdkffhkcbikpdnpkn, Quarantined, 201, 838845, , , , , , Registry Data: 0 (No malicious items detected) Data Stream: 0 (No malicious items detected) Folder: 1 PUP.Optional.PushNotifications.Generic, C:\USERS\{username}\APPDATA\LOCAL\GOOGLE\CHROME\USER DATA\Default\Extensions\kiecgjlpcjehhjbpdkffhkcbikpdnpkn, Quarantined, 201, 838845, , , , , , File: 4 PUP.Optional.PushNotifications.Generic, C:\USERS\{username}\APPDATA\LOCAL\GOOGLE\CHROME\USER DATA\Default\Secure Preferences, Replaced, 201, 838845, , , , , 529DFA0F9D27FF84EDD43E1105D91D3B, 9BBF0F7563E758E297A36DAB2DF38F7EF88955EDFF98597E6ECBE3854DDCB27A PUP.Optional.PushNotifications.Generic, C:\USERS\{username}\APPDATA\LOCAL\GOOGLE\CHROME\USER DATA\Default\Preferences, Replaced, 201, 838845, , , , , 781F264397CB4C01D6F97ED96B2FFBFE, 5D0DD64203353CBD7C1F7E2936049E5D8288E140A746C59C8C9552F0EFDED405 PUP.Optional.PushNotifications.Generic, C:\USERS\{username}\APPDATA\LOCAL\GOOGLE\CHROME\USER DATA\Default\Secure Preferences, Replaced, 201, 838845, 1.0.43830, , ame, , 529DFA0F9D27FF84EDD43E1105D91D3B, 9BBF0F7563E758E297A36DAB2DF38F7EF88955EDFF98597E6ECBE3854DDCB27A PUP.Optional.PushNotifications.Generic, C:\USERS\{username}\APPDATA\LOCAL\GOOGLE\CHROME\USER DATA\Default\Secure Preferences, Replaced, 201, 838845, 1.0.43830, , ame, , 529DFA0F9D27FF84EDD43E1105D91D3B, 9BBF0F7563E758E297A36DAB2DF38F7EF88955EDFF98597E6ECBE3854DDCB27A Physical Sector: 0 (No malicious items detected) WMI: 0 (No malicious items detected) (end)As mentioned before the full version of Malwarebytes could have protected your computer against this threat.
We use different ways of protecting your computer(s):
- Dynamically Blocks Malware Sites & Servers
- Malware Execution Prevention