What is PBot?
PBot is an adware program that is sometimes hard to pinpoint. It is an old release, but it wouldn’t be surprising if we were to find it somewhere out there, collecting information on user’s web browsing habits. Although adware is not a direct computer security threat, it can still cause multiple security issues, and that is why you should remove PBot from your computer as soon as possible. If you are not sure whether you have this adware on-board or not you can perform a full system scan with a powerful antispyware tool.
Where does PBot come from?
This adware application is written in the Python programming language, and it is dropped on the target system by the RIG exploit kit. It means that someone has made use of certain vulnerability, and they injected their exploit kit there to promote and distribute adware. The vulnerability might have been present on a website, a browser, or some software application. The point is that you interacted with the vulnerable content first-hand, and this is how PBot managed to slither into your system.
It is very likely that this adware program was created by Russian developers because the Russian websites are white-listed in PBot. It means that the exploit kit that drops this program does not affect Russian websites, and the developers do not target Russian users. It is a common knowledge that the Russian government might turn the blind eye to the cybercrime activities as long as Russian cybercriminals do not attack Russian citizens.
So, technically, if you got infected with PBot, it was just bad luck. The adware targets specific websites rather than individual users, and if you happen to visit a certain site, the exploit kit might drop this program on your system.
What does PBot do?
This program does a lot of peculiar things. For one, it doesn’t inform the user about the installation, and the infection is performed silently. As far as we know, PBot runs the man-in-the-browser (MITB) type of attacks. It injects scripts into legitimate websites, customizing them according to its own preferences. Also, the MITB attacks allow this program to exploit the data that is shared between the browser and its security mechanism. In other words, PBot can significantly lower your browser’s security, thus allowing other malicious scripts to enter it and modify your settings.
Upon the installation, PBot can affect multiple browser processes, including Firefox.exe, Chrome.exe, Chromium.exe, Opera.exe, Amigo.exe, Iexplore.exe, MicrosoftEdge.exe, MicrosoftEdgeCP.exe, and Browser.exe. The adware can even forge a site’s certificate, giving it a lot more power over the website and the content you see.
For the most part, PBot can be configured to display harmless ads, but we have to remember that this program can be quite annoying and intrusive, so you should not tolerate it. As we can see from all the things this program can do, it may mess up with a lot of things, and that is not good.
Most of the users might think that seeing a few more commercial ads when you browse the web is not such a big deal. However, we have to remember that PBot does not have any power over what kind of content it promotes. The adware program provides a medium or a platform for third parties to display and promote their own content. So now let’s imagine what happens if malevolent third parties make use of this program. It goes without saying that this program could also be exploited for malware distribution purposes. Therefore, the sooner you notice this application, the sooner you can remove it for good.
How do I remove PBot?
Since this program doesn’t have an interface, it might be hard to tell that it is running on your system at first. We can counter that by running regular system scans with security tools of your choice. If PBot is found, you can remove it manually via Control Panel or by following the instructions given below.
Please remember that malware programs tend to spread in groups, so PBot might be just one of the many unwanted and dangerous applications on-board. Thus, it is a good idea to acquire a legitimate antispyware tool that would help you terminate everything for good.
Manual PBot Removal
- Press Win+R and type %AppData%. Click OK.
- Delete the following folders and files from the directory:
Minerblocker
MinerBlockerupd
webrun.exe - Press Win+R and type regedit. Click OK.
- Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run.
- Check on the right pane and remove these values:
MinerBlocker
MinerBlocker_upd - Scan your PC with SpyHunter.
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