CCleaner malware found

The popular tool CCleaner which is used on many PCs and Macs has been infected with Malware. If you have been keeping an eye on the news websites then you have probably already seen this passing by. MijnHostingPartner.nl still wants to dedicate a blog post to make sure that our customers do not accidentally miss it. The program CCleaner is used to clean up your PC by, for example, emptying all cookies and the recycle garbage can. This is how people have come to rely on it to periodically briefly remove all accumulated idle data. The program was always well known and was recommended by many tech magazines and websites to keep your PC clean. That has now changed.

Acquired by Avast

CCleaner was bought by the anti virus company Avast in July 2017. Piriform and Avast claimed after discovering the backdoor that no code was sent through the backdoor. However, this has been shown not to be the case and thus information is being sent. The attackers targeted major tech companies such as HTC, Samsung, Sony , VMware , Intel and many more. According to Cisco, the backdoor targeted personal and intellectual property. This includes passwords stored on the PC, files and programs.

What is recommended to do?

First, it is recommended to remove CCleaner from your computer. Then the next step is to scan your computer for malware and other threats. If this reveals anything then have it removed immediately and quarantined by the malware scanner. In regedit it is important to check if the following line is present:

HKLMOFTWARE:TCID

Regedit can be opened by typing regedit.exe from the start screen. If this is present or malware is found then you have two options according to Cisco:

• Reinstall your computer
• Restore to a restore point prior to August 15

We strongly recommend applying 1 of these options.MijnSecurityPartner.co.uk can perform a comprehensive scan and protect and fix you for these types of backdoors. If you want more information about this you can start a conversation via the online chat at MijnSecurityPartner.nl