ProtectionBar

Alias: protectionbar, protection bar, Trojan SPM/LX, thesafebar, thesafebar.com, asecuritybar, asecuritybar.com

Description: Protection Bar is a rogue browser toolbar that is installed by the the ZLOB Trojan. Within minutes of being installed, Protection Bar falsely claims that the user's computer is infected and then recommends buying various rogue anti-spyware and / or anti-virus programs.

Once installed, Protection Bar exhibits the following symptoms:

Protection Bar Added to Internet Explorer:

Zlob Balloon Messages:


Threat type:

Hijacker - A Hijacker is a software application that takes control of your browser's settings. Usually it changes your home page and redirects it to some unknown site or modifies your search settings. It prevents you from changing back your browser's settings. An infected browser usually operates much slower.

Ransomware - Ransomware is a software application that infects a computer and asks for money to have the infection removed.

Toolbar - A Toolbar is a group of buttons that performs different tasks. Unwanted toolbars are usually installed by adware programs that try to send users to their paying advertisers.

Trojan - A Trojans or Trojan Horse is any programs that installs itself secretly, quite often with sinister intent. Once installed, the trojan author (hacker) can gain complete control of the infected PC. Trojans are usually designed to steal sensitive information and/or destroy the system. Trojans can be distributed as unsolicited email attachments, or bundled with freeware and shareware programs.

Advice: Remove This is a very high risk threat and should be removed immediately as to prevent harm to your computer or your privacy.

Detection:
SpyNoMore detects ProtectionBar: Yes

Threat risk: Very High Risk

Extremely dangerous malware. Uses stealth installation, randomly named entries and has the capability to self update or resurrect after incomplete removal. Almost impossible to remove manually. Category mostly consists of trojans and spyware.

Symptoms:

Protection Bar toolbar gets added to your Internet Explorer's toolbar.

You start receiving warning messages claiming that your system is infected (example, Trojan SPM/LX).

Protection Bar may have been bundled with a movie codec that you have downloaded.

Homepage hijacked to various rogue security toolbar websites such as thesafebar.com.

Presence of blinking icons next to computer clock. The icons can generate balloon messages claiming infection. The icons usually looks like a circle with a (?) or a 'danger' triangle with an exclamation mark inside.

ProtectionBar Signature Details: The following information includes some of the standard signatures associated with this spyware threat. Please do not attempt to manually remove these items from your computer; Removing these items incorrectly or partially can cause your computer to experience critical errors, prevent your computer from restarting or cause loss of Internet connectivity. Should you be infected with ProtectionBar, you can clean your computer by downloading SpyNoMore now.

Running Process Signatures:

File Signatures:
N/A

Registered Dll (Dynamic Link Library) Signatures:

Internet Explorer Integration:

Folder Signatures:
N/A

Registry Signatures:


SpyNoMore Collected Residual File Signatures:

See Also:
SpyHeal
BraveSentry
SpyGuard
SysSecurityPage
SafetyHomepage
SecurityNetPage
SysGuardSite
SafetyBar
TrustinBar
VirusBlast