How To Remove topdefence-formob.com Adware (Mac)

Tips To Delete topdefence-formob.com

topdefence-formob.com is a malevolent web domain designed by a group of vicious cyber actors to trick visitors into downloading and installing potentially unwanted programs (PUPs). Whenever you land on this site, you are presented with fake security notifications claiming that your device is infected with viruses then also urged to install a recommended application to get rid of the threat. People don’t visit such phishing web portals intentionally. Most often, they are redirected to such sites by adware or PUP which is already running in the background of their iPhones or Mac computers.

Text Presented In The Pop-up Of Main Variant of Site:

YOUR IPHONE HAS BEEN COMPROMISED

Immediate Action Is Required!

OK

Text Presented In The Second Page Of Its Main Variant:

Apple SecurityFriday

2 October 2020

WARNING! Your Apple iPhone is probably infected with viruses!

We have detected that your Browser is (62%) DAMAGED by BROWSER TROJAN VIRUSES picked up while surfing recent corrupted sites.

Immediate action is required to prevent it from spreading and infecting sensitive data like your Facebook account, Whatsapp messages photos and private applications.

Push the scan button to check your device.

1 minutes and 57 seconds

Scan

Detected By Apple.

Text Presented In The Third Page Of Its Main Variant:

MALWARE DETECTED

Action Required

Several Trojan viruses have been detected, your device is heavily damaged and needs to be repaired.

If you don’t repair your device:

• Your battery will overheat
• Your list of contacts will be lost
• Your photos will be lost
• Your SIM-card may be damaged

If you want to delete viruses and repair your device, push the continue button and arrange anti-virus trial on the next page.

Сontinue

Text Presented In The Pop-up Of Second Variant of Site:

YOUR IPHONE HAS BEEN COMPROMISED

Immediate Action Is Required!

OK

Text presented In The background page of this variant:

Apple SecurityFriday

2 October 2020

WARNING! Your Apple iPhone is severely damaged by 13 viruses!

We have detected that your Browser is (62%) DAMAGED by BROWSER TROJAN VIRUSES picked up while surfing recent corrupted sites.

Immediate action is required to prevent it from spreading and infecting sensitive data like your Facebook account, Whatsapp messages photos and private applications.

Here is how you can solve this in just a few seconds (Step by Step)

Step 1: Tap REMOVE VIRUS to install VPN from the App Store.

Step 2: Open the app to activate the latest update and remove any older (Infected) versions.

1 minutes and 57 seconds

Remove Virus

Detected By Apple.

Text Presented In The Third Variant of This Site:

Protect your Privacy – get Free VPN app from AppStore

Stay private with our FREE VPN App

To protect your privacy, follow these steps:

1. Install the VPN from App Store
2. Open the App
3. Use it when you want to change your IP

INSTALL NOW

Text Presented In The Fourth Variant of This Site:

Install a Secured VPN App From the Appstore For Free and Protect Your Internet Connection!

How to Protect Your Connection:

Step 1. Click on the Button “Download” Below and Install the Application from the Appstore (for Free)

Step 2. Open the Installed Application and Protect Your Internet Connection

DOWNLOAD

More About topdefence-formob.com:

topdefence-formob.com has atleast four variants and all of them are employed for same purpose- to trick Mac users into installing PUPs. Visitors are claimed that the device is either infected with several viruses or Trojans and encouraged to terminate them immediately. According to the research, the phishing site offers to install the app named Norton Secure VPN – Proxy VPN. However, it might be employed to promote other unwanted threats as well. No matter what the case is, you should never download any software from sites like this. You should only use official websites for this process.

As we have stated earlier, you are often redirected to topdefence-formob.com by adware which secretly infiltrates the Mac device without users’ permission and then conducts a series of malicious activities in the background. During the presence of this nasty PUP, you are bombarded with thousands of annoying ads and pop-ups all over the day which interrupts your web sessions badly. It serves attractive offers, coupons, surveys, banners, deals etc. that can easily gain your attention. These ads are based on pay-per-click mechanism and earn revenues for the creators upon being clicked.

Ads delivered by topdefence-formob.com adware include spiteful links and when clicked, redirect people to scamming, phishing or even malware-laden sites that host trojan or ransomware. Visiting on such pernicious domains may result in more malware infections. This nasty PUP eats up huge amount of memory resources and drags down the overall computer performance severely. Due to this, machine starts responding slower than ever before and takes more than usual time to complete any task. And hence, an instant topdefence-formob.com virus removal is highly required.

Threat Details

Name: topdefence-formob.com

Type: Mac virus, Adware, Potentially unwanted program

Short Description: Claims users’ Device is infected with viruses, Redirects Mac users to affiliated sites, promotes sponsored products, services and programs and make online revenues for the creators, Also steals users’ personal and confidential information and share them with hackers for evil purposes.

Symptoms: Fake pop-up messages, Endless intrusive adverts, identity theft, new tab settings, slowness of infected system’s performance.

Serving IP Address: 64.225.2.103

Promoted Unwanted Program: Norton Secure VPN – Proxy VPN

Distribution methods: Free software installers (bundling), Deceptive emails, malicious pop-ups ads, fake flash player installers.

Damage: Web browsing tracking (potential privacy issues), exhibition of unwanted ads, redirects to shady websites.

Removal: To get rid of this infection and other malware threats, our security researchers recommend scanning your device with an effective anti-malware tool.

How Does This PUP Enter Your Device?

According to reports, the most common distribution technique is freeware bundling. In this method, several components are included in a single package that looks like one application. When users download the freeware from unreliable sites and then install it using the ‘Quick’ or ‘Recommended’ mode set, all the tools included in the software package also manage to settle down on the machine along with this carrier program.

Tips To Prevent Adware Intrusions:

To avoid unwanted downloads, you must select the right configuration settings to install a freeware or shareware. Custom or Advanced options give you complete control over the incoming downloads and allow you to opt-out all the objects that give a concerning look. Moreover, you should avoid downloading programs or software from unofficial sites, Peer-to-peer networks, third-party downloaders and choose only reliable sources or direct links to do the process. But at the moment, you must remove topdefence-formob.com from the work-station as early as possible.

Remove Files and Folders Related to topdefence-formob.com

Open the “Menu” bar and click the “Finder” icon. Select “Go” and click on “Go to Folder…”

Step 1: Search the suspicious and doubtful malware generated files in /Library/LaunchAgents folder

Type /Library/LaunchAgents in the “Go to Folder” option

In the “Launch Agent” folder, search for all the files that you have recently downloaded and move them to “Trash”. Few of the examples of files created by browser-hijacker or adware are as follow, “myppes.download.plist”, “mykotlerino.Itvbit.plist”, installmac.AppRemoval.plist”, and “kuklorest.update.plist” and so on.

Step 2: Detect and remove the files generated by the adware in “/Library/Application” Support folder

In the “Go to Folder..bar”, type “/Library/Application Support”

Search for any suspicious newly added folders in “Application Support” folder. If you detect any one of these like “NicePlayer” or “MPlayerX” then send them to “Trash” folder.

Step 3: Look for the files generated by malware in /Library/LaunchAgent Folder:

Go to Folder bar and type /Library/LaunchAgents

You are in the “LaunchAgents” folder. Here, you have to search for all the newly added files and move them to “Trash” if you find them suspicious. Some of the examples of suspicious files generated by malware are “myppes.download.plist”, “installmac.AppRemoved.plist”, “kuklorest.update.plist”, “mykotlerino.ltvbit.plist” and so on.

Step4: Go to /Library/LaunchDaemons Folder and search for the files created by malware

Type /Library/LaunchDaemons in the “Go To Folder” option

In the newly opened “LaunchDaemons” folder, search for any recently added suspicious files and move them to “Trash”. Examples of some of the suspicious files are “com.kuklorest.net-preferences.plist”, “com.avickUpd.plist”, “com.myppes.net-preference.plist”, “com.aoudad.net-preferences.plist” and so on.

Step 5: Use Combo Cleaner Anti-Malware and Scan your Mac PC

The malware infections could be removed from the Mac PC if you execute all the steps mentioned above in the correct way. However, it is always advised to be sure that your PC is not infected. It is suggested to scan the work-station with “Combo Cleaner Anti-virus”.

Once the file gets downloaded, double click on combocleaner.dmg installer in the newly opened window. Next is to open the “Launchpad” and press on “Combo Cleaner” icon. It is advised to wait until “Combo Cleaner” updates the latest definition for malware detection. Click on “Start Combo Scan” button.

A depth scan of your Mac PC will be executed in order to detect malware. If the Anti-virus scan report says “no threat found” then you can continue with guide further. On the other hand, it is recommended to delete the detected malware infection before continuing.

Now the files and folders created by the adware is removed, you have to remove the rogue extensions from the browsers.

Remove topdefence-formob.com from Internet Browsers

Delete Doubtful and Malicious Extension from Safari

Go to “Menu Bar” and open “Safari” browser. Select “Safari” and then “Preferences”

In the opened “preferences” window, select “Extensions” that you have recently installed. All such extensions should be detected and click the “Uninstall” button next to it. If you are doubtful then you can remove all the extensions from “Safari” browser as none of them are important for smooth functionality of the browser.

In case if you continue facing unwanted webpage redirections or aggressive advertisements bombarding, you can reset the “Safari” browser.

“Reset Safari”

Open the Safari menu and choose “preferences…” from the drop-down menu.

Go to the “Extension” tab and set the extension slider to “Off” position. This disables all the installed extensions in the Safari browser

Next step is to check the homepage. Go to “Preferences…” option and choose “General” tab. Change the homepage to your preferred URL.

Also check the default search-engine provider settings. Go to “Preferences…” window and select the “Search” tab and select the search-engine provider that you want such as “Google”.

Next is to clear the Safari browser Cache- Go to “Preferences…” window and select “Advanced” tab and click on “Show develop menu in the menu bar.“

Go to “Develop” menu and select “Empty Caches”.

Remove website data and browsing history. Go to “Safari” menu and select “Clear History and Website Data”. Choose “all history” and then click on “Clear History”.

Remove Unwanted and Malicious Plug-ins from Mozilla Firefox

Delete topdefence-formob.com add-ons from Mozilla Firefox

Open the Firefox Mozilla browser. Click on the “Open Menu” present in the top right corner of the screen. From the newly opened menu, choose “Add-ons”.

Go to “Extension” option and detect all the latest installed add-ons. Select each of the suspicious add-ons and click on “Remove” button next to them.

In case if you want to “reset” the Mozilla Firefox browser then follow the steps that has been mentioned below.

Reset Mozilla Firefox Settings

Open the Firefox Mozilla browser and click on “Firefox” button situated at the top left corner of the screen.

In the new menu, go to “Help” sub-menu and choose “Troubleshooting Information”

In the “Troubleshooting Information” page, click on “Reset Firefox” button.

Confirm that you want to reset the Mozilla Firefox settings to default by pressing on “Reset Firefox” option

The browser will get restarted and the settings changes to factory default

Delete Unwanted and Malicious Extensions from Google Chrome

Open the chrome browser and click on “Chrome menu”. From the drop down option, choose “More Tools” and then “Extensions”.

In the “Extensions” option, search for all the recently installed add-ons and extensions. Select them and choose “Trash” button. Any third-party extension is not important for the smooth functionality of the browser.

Reset Google Chrome Settings

Open the browser and click on three line bar at the top right side corner of the window.

Go to the bottom of the newly opened window and select “Show advanced settings”.

In the newly opened window, scroll down to the bottom and choose “Reset browser settings”

Click on the “Reset” button on the opened “Reset browser settings” window

Restart the browser and the changes you get will be applied

The above mentioned manual process should be executed as it is mentioned. It is a cumbersome process and requires a lot of technical expertise. And hence it is advised for technical experts only. To be sure that your PC is free from malware, it is better that you scan the work-station with a powerful anti-malware tool. The automatic malware removal application is preferred because it doesn’t requires any additional technical skills and expertise.

Download the application and execute it on the PC to begin the depth scanning. Once the scanning gets completed, it shows the list of all the files related to topdefence-formob.com. You can select such harmful files and folders and remove them immediately.