Downloaded fake Adobe Flash Update with virus

About a 1-2 months ago I attempted to click on an old bookmark through Chrome and was prompted with a page that said I needed to update my Adobe Flash- I typically don't fall for these kinds of things, but for some reason this one got me. After installed I immediately realized this was not authentic of Adobe. MacKeeper (or something with a similar name) was installed and telling my I had a virus and needed to click on it and I also noticed that my search engine had changed. I deleted the Adobe file, the Mackeeper, and the search engine. Now every couple of weeks out of nowhere I will realize that my Chrome windows have been closed and when I reopen the search engine has been changed again. I don't know where else to look or what to do to get this virus off of my computer. I'm scared to download any kind of software advertised as a virus remover or to try anything else on my own.

MacBook Air 13", 10.14

Posted on Feb 12, 2019 3:14 PM

Reply
15 replies

Feb 12, 2019 4:26 PM in response to rallie3

OK, in Finder's Go menu>Go to Folder, paste this in...


/Library/LaunchDaemons/


Press enter & a Finder window should open where you can find... com.HermesLookupDaemon.plist


Delete that then rinse & repeat... paste...


/Library/Application Support/


Next...


~/Library/LaunchAgents/


Then...


~/Library/Application Support/


PS, the tilde ~/Library, is shortcut to the hidden Home folder's Library


Feb 12, 2019 4:04 PM in response to rallie3

Security:


    GatekeeperEnabled


    System Integrity ProtectionEnabled


Adware:


        Launchd: /Library/LaunchDaemons/com.HermesLookupDaemon.plist


            Reason: Adware pattern match


            Executable: /Library/Application Support/com.HermesLookupDaemon/HermesLookup r


        Launchd: ~/Library/LaunchAgents/com.HermesLookup.plist


            Reason: Adware pattern match


            Executable: ~/Library/Application Support/com.HermesLookup/HermesLookup r


Unsigned Files:


    Launchd: /Library/LaunchDaemons/jp.co.canon.MasterInstaller.plist


        Executable: /Library/PrivilegedHelperTools/jp.co.canon.MasterInstaller


        Details: Exact match found in the whitelist - probably OK




32-bit Applications:


    One 32-bit app




System Launch Agents:


    [Not Loaded] 16 Apple tasks


    [Loaded] 142 Apple tasks


    [Running] 141 Apple tasks




System Launch Daemons:


    [Not Loaded] 40 Apple tasks


    [Loaded] 166 Apple tasks


    [Running] 127 Apple tasks


    [Other] One Apple task




Launch Agents:


    [Other] com.adobe.ARMDCHelper.cc24aef4a1b90ed56a725c38014c95072f92651fb65e1bf9c8e43c37a23d420d.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-03-23)




Launch Daemons:


    [Loaded] jp.co.canon.MasterInstaller.plist (? d0637166 - installed 2018-05-25)


    [Running] com.adobe.ARMDC.Communicator.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-03-23)


    [Loaded] com.HermesLookupDaemon.plist (Adware - installed 2019-01-14)


    [Running] com.adobe.ARMDC.SMJobBlessHelper.plist (Adobe Systems, Inc. - installed 2018-03-23)


User Launch Agents:


    [Loaded] com.HermesLookup.plist (Adware - installed 2019-01-10)


    [Loaded] com.google.keystone.agent.plist (Google, Inc. - installed 2018-07-18)

Feb 12, 2019 5:01 PM in response to BDAqua

Great! I did do the scan on MWB and was able to delete through there. Then I double checked in the finder and found/deleted


/Library/LaunchDaemons/com.HermesLookupDaemon.plist


Did another MWB scan, it says I'm clean and another EtreCheck scan and it doesn't seem to say anything about Adware. Seems solved for now! Thanks again BDAqua!


Feb 12, 2019 3:35 PM in response to rallie3

Yeah we need to get rid of Mac Creeper too.


These 2 should do it...


Post a report from this please...


EtreCheck is a simple little app to display the important details of your system configuration and allow you to copy that information to the Clipboard. It is meant to be used with Apple Support Communities to help people help you with your Mac.


http://www.etresoft.com/etrecheck


There is also Malwarebytes…


https://www.malwarebytes.com/mac/

Feb 12, 2019 4:05 PM in response to rallie3

User Login Items:


StartUpHelper (Spotify - installed 2018-11-27)


         (/Applications/Spotify.app/Contents/Library/LoginItems/StartUpHelper.app)


    iTunesHelper.app (Apple - installed 2018-09-20)


         (/Applications/iTunes.app/Contents/MacOS/iTunesHelper.app)


Internet Plug-ins:


    AdobePDFViewerNPAPI: 17.012.20098 (installed 2019-02-12)


    AdobePDFViewer: 19.010.20091 (installed 2019-02-12)


    QuickTime Plugin: 7.7.3 (installed 2018-09-20)


    EPPEX Plugin: 10.0 (installed 2018-01-15)


Time Machine:


    Time Machine Not Configured!



Performance:


    System Load: 4.07 (1 min ago) 4.58 (5 min ago) 3.50 (15 min ago)


    Nominal I/O speed: 0.07 MB/s


    File system: 72.23 seconds


    Write speed: 1234 MB/s


    Read speed: 1132 MB/s



CPU Usage:


    Type Overall


    System 19 %


    User 38 %


    Idle 43 %


Top Processes by CPU:


    Process (count) CPU (Source - Location)


    Finder 98.23 % (Apple)


    Other processes 88.96 % (?)


    Google Chrome 23.99 % (Google, Inc.)


    EtreCheck 3.70 % (App Store)


    Google Chrome Helper 3.35 % (Google, Inc.)


Top Processes by Memory:


    Process (count) RAM usage (Source - Location)


    EtreCheck 477 MB (App Store)


    Google Chrome 184 MB (Google, Inc.)


    Google Chrome Helper 126 MB (Google, Inc.)


    Finder 116 MB (Apple)


    qliqCONNECT 86 MB (Ardensys Inc.)


Top Processes by Network Use:


    Process Input / Output (Source - Location)


    mDNSResponder 121 MB / 20 MB (Apple)


    netbiosd 9 MB / 1 MB (Apple)


    qliqCONNECT 37 KB / 19 KB (Ardensys Inc.)


    SystemUIServer 0 B / 33 KB (Apple)


    apsd 7 KB / 7 KB (Apple)


Virtual Memory Information:


    Available RAM 2.74 GB


    Free RAM 1.08 GB


    Used RAM 5.26 GB


    Cached files 1.66 GB


    Swap Used 916 MB


Software Installs (past 30 days):


    Install Date Name (Version)


    2019-01-14 Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (Continuous)


    2019-02-06 MRTConfigData (1.39)


    2019-02-11 Gatekeeper Configuration Data (162)


    2019-02-12 Adobe Acrobat Reader DC (19.010.20091)


    2019-02-12 EtreCheck (5.1)


Diagnostics Information (past 7 days):


    Directory /Library/Logs/DiagnosticReports is not accessible without Full Drive Access.



End of report

Feb 12, 2019 4:01 PM in response to BDAqua

Performance: Excellent

Sandbox: Enabled

Full drive access: Disabled

Major Issues:


    Anything that appears on this list needs immediate attention.


    No Time Machine backup - Time Machine backup not found.


    Adware - Adware detected.


Minor Issues:


    These issues do not need immediate attention but they may indicate future problems.


    Configuration profiles present - This machine has configuration profiles. These are sometimes used by adware and malware.


    Unsigned files - There are unsigned software files installed. They appear to be legitimate but should be reviewed.


    32-bit Apps - This machine has 32-bits apps that may have problems in the future.


    Limited drive access - More information may be available with Full Drive Access.


Hardware Information:



    MacBook Air (13-inch, 2017)



    MacBook Air Model: MacBookAir7,2



    1 1.8 GHz Intel Core i5 (i5-5350U) CPU: 2-core



    8 GB RAM - Not upgradeable



    BANK 0/DIMM0 - 4 GB DDR3 1600 ok



    BANK 1/DIMM0 - 4 GB DDR3 1600 ok



    Battery: Health = Normal - Cycle count = 138



Video Information:



    Intel HD Graphics 6000 - VRAM: 1536 MB



    Color LCD 1440 x 900



Drives:



    disk0 - APPLE SSD SM0256G 251.00 GB (Solid State - TRIM: Yes)



    Internal PCI 5.0 GT/s x4 Serial ATA



        disk0s1 - EFI (MS-DOS FAT32) [EFI] 210 MB



        disk0s2 [APFS Container] 250.79 GB



            disk1 [APFS Virtual drive] 250.79 GB (Shared by 4 volumes)



                disk1s1 - Macintosh HD (APFS) (Shared - 105.05 GB used)



                disk1s2 - Preboot (APFS) [APFS Preboot] (Shared)



                disk1s3 - Recovery (APFS) [Recovery] (Shared - 1.03 GB used)



                disk1s4 - VM (APFS) [APFS VM] (Shared - 3.22 GB used)



Mounted Volumes:



    disk1s1 - Macintosh HD 250.79 GB (141.28 GB free)



        APFS



        Mount point: /



        Encrypted



    disk1s3 - Recovery [Recovery] 250.79 GB (141.28 GB free)



        APFS



        Mount point: /Volumes/Recovery



    disk1s4 - VM [APFS VM] (Shared - 3.22 GB used)



        APFS



        Mount point: /private/var/vm



    disk3s2 - Flash Player 24 MB



        Mac OS Extended



        Disk Image



        Mount point: /Volumes/Flash Player



    disk4s1 - A***************p 21 MB (950 KB free)



        Mac OS Extended



        Disk Image



        Mount point: /Volumes/A***************p



Network:



    Interface en0: Wi-Fi



        802.11 a/b/g/n/ac



    Interface en2: Bluetooth PAN



    Interface bridge0: Thunderbolt Bridge



System Software:



    macOS Mojave 10.14 (18A391)



    Time since boot: About 92 days



Configuration Profiles:


    This computer has configuration profiles installed.


This thread has been closed by the system or the community team. You may vote for any posts you find helpful, or search the Community for additional answers.

Downloaded fake Adobe Flash Update with virus

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