Guide to remove Pirate Chick VPN Trojan

Technology has adapted exponential changes in the last two decades. Globalization finally found the wings with Internet! With exponential increase in Internet users, information security became a huge challenge to answer!

Luckily the think tanks of the industry came up with many easy solutions! One of these solutions was using a Virtual Private network – VPN Security!

A Virtual Private network helped the users in the following manners:

1)        Identity Protection by using proxy servers

2)        Encrypted Data to Ensure Confidentiality

3)        Checksum integrity to ensure zero breach

4)        Authentication protocols to restrict unauthorized users and;

5)        Data transfer methodologies to ensure correct information parsing

These Virtual networks were categorized as Public or Private VPNs.

Though they were intended to be useful, VPNs were exploited by Information stealers and hackers for unethical purposes. The recent example of this being Pirate Chick VPN.

Deceptively Legitimate in appearance, Pirate chick VPN lured the innocent users with help of agreement pages & privacy policy trap. It also promoted its reach in the mass with help of false trial offers without credit card information. With a digitally signed installer, it was even successful in fooling the popular Internet securities alert mechanism.

Many users downloaded this malware with a thought of accessing internet with complete security.

Rather than providing security, it downloads a rogue process monitor to the system that acts malevolent!

Threat Summary

Understanding Pirate Chick VPN

Pretend to be a legitimate VPN service, Pirate Chick VPN is actually a Trojan horse. Once infiltrated the system, it immediately connects to its server to install malicious malwares silently. Majorly, the password stealing Trojan – AZORult Trojan is distributed by it. Trusting its legitimacy, people often download the nasty tool from its official website.

To give an impression of being safe to the users, initially it offers a three-month’s trial. During the trial period, the tool performs VPN functionalities and nothing else. However, as mentioned above, the threat begins right with its installation. The tool, along with performing the VPN services, installs the malicious payload in the background.

However, the ultimate purpose of Pirate Chick VPN is to silently install additional destructive malwares on the system.

Threat Behavior

Trojans are designed to secretly infiltrate the system. It then silently installs devastating malware from its server. Hence, there are no particular symptoms that are associated with Pirate Chick VPN. However, cyber experts have noticed changes in the speed and performance of the victim’s system. Once this malicious Trojan gains the access of your system, it slows down the operations with additional background processes.

Apart from decreasing the speed of performance, it may steal your personal or non – personal information. Once the system is infiltrated by Pirate chick VPN Trojan, it steals information like – browsing history, usernames, passwords, IP addresses and what not!

Distribution Techniques

The primary gateway of this Password stealing Trojan is via ‘Bundling’.  Bundling is basically a secretive installation of third party program along with the regular software. These are generally hidden under ‘Advanced settings’ of the ‘Installation’ process.

When installing any software, people do not expect to get anything malicious alongside the regular application.

Moreover, acting as a legitimate VPN, the developers promote them on pop-up ads, banners or spread using ad bundles. One can easily download it for free from its official website. It also provides you a free trial!

Hence, make sure to avoid the fake promotional ads on your screen. Do not get trapped in the network of these malicious advertisements.

Removal guidelines of Pirate Chick VPN

STEP A: Remove the malicious files from System Configuration Settings

1. Type “Msconfig” in search box / Run Box, select it and press Enter.
2. Click on “Services” Tab and click on “Hide all Microsoft services”.
3. Select Pirate Chick VPN from the list of remaining services and disable it by removing the tick mark from the checkbox and click on Apply button.

STEP B: Delete suspicious file from the Registry Key

1. Type “Regedit” in search box / Run Box, select it and press Enter.
2. An authorization dialog box will appear, then you just have to click “Yes”. (The dialog box appearance may vary depending on OS used. For Windows 10 the the dialog box looks like the first screenshot and for windows 7 it appears like the second screenshot)
3. In the registry editor, take the backup of the current registry settings before making any changes in case you want to revert to old settings later. For this, Click on File option in the menu and select Export. Save the entry at a known location.
4. From the Menu, Click Edit and Select Find.
5. Enter Pirate Chick VPN and click Ok in the search box.
6. Select and delete suspicious  enteries.

STEP C: Reboot Your System to Safe mode with Networking

Tips to prevent Pirate Chick VPN from infecting your system

1. Keeping the Operating System Updated- In order to remain protected and avoid such infections, it is recommended to keep your Operating System updated by enabling the automatic update on your system. The systems with outdated or older versions of Operating System become an easy target for the attackers.
2. Resist clicking on spam emails – One of the major techniques used for malware distribution is forwarding spam emails to the user. The system gets infected as soon as the user clicks on the attachment. These mails appear to be genuine, so be aware and resist falling for these tricks.
3. Keep an eye on third party installations- It is quite important that you take due care while installing any third party applications for they are major source of such infections. Such malware programs come bundled with the free applications thereby requiring the user to remain cautious.
4. Regular periodical backup- In order to keep your data and files safe, it is recommended to take regular back up of all your data and files either on an external drive or cloud.
5. Use Anti-Virus Protection- We strongly recommend the use of antivirus protection/internet security in your PC like Vipre and Hitman so that it remains safe.
6. Enable the Ad Blocker/Popup Blocker in your browser- Enabling the popup blocker/ ad blocker in your chosen browser will help you to stay protected from annoying adware.

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