How to Remove Mirai Mac Virus

George Herman
George Herman
IT Security Expert

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Some infections like this Mirai virus can regenerate themselves. There is no better way to detect, remediate and prevent malware infection, than to use a professional anti-malware software like SpyHunter. One Application that is capable of solving all MAC problems.

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What Is Mirai Mac Virus?

remove mirai mac virus botnet

 

Mirai malware is a sophisticated botnet that was created in 2016 and quickly rose to fame for being one the most powerful botnets existing. Over the course of 2016-2017, it had been released on multiple occasions by cybercriminals and quickly spread around the globe. It was spread primarily through compromised IoT devices such as security cameras, webcams, routers and even refrigerators. It’s not just a botnet but it also is an IoT-on-Ransomware. Just like any other ransomware, Mirai will attempt to make infected devices pay the ransom by encrypting their data and demanding a ransom in exchange for the decryption key. As you can guess from its name, Mirai malware has been named after the main actor/s behind this cyberattack. This action was taken due to the extreme nature of this malware and its ability to cause massive disruption across multiple major industries. The botnet was discovered in a data set of 3.2 billion records and the infection vector of this particular variant is spread through phishing emails containing malicious documents. The idea behind this malware is to continuously scan for and target vulnerable servers. Once accessed, a malicious shell script is installed in /tmp/s and then automatically executed with root privileges. It also attempts to download multiple files from the command-and-control (C&C).

How Is Mirai Mac Virus Distributed?

Mirai malware spreads through some popular ways, mostly via reuse of insecure devices. It does this by taking advantage of vulnerable IoT devices that are connected to the internet. Infected devices are mainly found in genuine ecosystems, as it is expected that cybercriminals would use hacked IoT devices to spread Mirai. This botnet can also infect a variety of servers such as web, file and application servers. A total of 380,000 IoT devices were compromised by this malware in 2016 alone. Most of these devices belonged to the Russian Federation, Germany, Brazil and India. Interestingly, most of these vulnerable devices were DVRs and IP cameras that had been infected with a known remote access trojan called ‘Mirai’.

How harmful is Mirai botnet? 

Cybersecurity firm Fortinet said in a blog post that victims of Mirai botnets saw as many as 14 million attacks per day, with DDoS attacks peaking at more than 600 Gbps. This botnet doesn’t just target websites but will also look for routers, printers and any other device that is connected to the internet. It then uses these devices to launch powerful attacks against its target by exploiting them with brute-force or dictionary attack using default password credentials. Mirai malware also aims to target businesses by using maintainer access credentials as a method for gaining access to systems, which can lead to even more damage. According to researchers, researchers, who conducted a study on the botnet it has been estimated that this botnet was responsible for 1 out of every 2 DDoS attacks occuring around the world in 2019.

How did I get infected?

It is likely that one of your devices was infected at some point. The best way to avoid a Mirai infection is to re-evaluate all of your company’s IoT devices and consider any devices that may have been compromised. Attackers tend to use the same attack vectors for bots that they do for websites and if you see a trend in attacks from multiple sources you should seriously consider fixing them all. Here are some tips to help prevent your device from becoming part of a Mirai botnet. Use strong passwords. Default (dumb) passwords are very easy to guess and your employees should use a different password for each device that they have access to, no matter if it’s an IoT device or not. An attacker could change the default password and then infect all the connected devices with just one password. Be mindful on who has access to your devices .

How can I Remove Mirai virus ?

Step 1: Uninstall Mirai and remove related files and objects

  • Open your Finder –> Click on GO –>Click on Utilities

macos utilities

  • Find Activity Monitor and open it

activity monitor macos

  • Review all the processes in Activity Monitor and write down the ones related to Mirai virus

Mirai stop

  • Select Quit

Mirai info

  • To kill the malicious process, choose the Force Quit option.

force quit Mirai

Step 2: Remove Mirai – related extensions from Safari / Chrome / Firefox

The first thing you need to do is to make sure Safari is not running. If you have troubles closing it, you may need to Force Quit Safari - (Start Activity Monitor by opening up Finder, then proceed to Application --> Utilities --> Activity monitor. Locate the Safari process and force quit it.

Safely launch Safari again by holding the Shift key and clicking on the Safari application icon - This will prevent Safari’s previously opened malicious web pages.

In case that you still are having trouble with scripts interrupting the closing of unwanted pages, please do the following:

  • Force Quit Safari again.
  • Disconnect form Internet and try again.

Then Re-Launch Safari but don’t forget to press and hold the Shift button to prevent pop-ups. Then, click on Preferences.

  • Carefully take a look at your default home page and change it if the hijacker altered it.

  • Then go to the Extensions tab and make sure there are no unknow extensions installed.

  • Next step is to click on Privacy tab

  • Manage website data

  • Here you can remove any unwanted website data or just remove them all. Please, keep in mind that after you do this all stored website data will be deleted. You will need to sign-in again for all websites that require any form of authentication.
  • The next step is to Clear History (if you want), select the tab.

  • Click the menu next to clear and choose a time period — if you want to completely reset Safari, choose all history.
  • Press Clear History
  • To remove from Chrome, open the browser and click the icon with the three dots located in the top-right.
  • Select to More Tools --> Extensions and review what Chrome Extensions are present in the browser
  • Remove the ones that you do not recognize.

bad toolbar

  • If the parasite continues to disrupt your browsing with Chrome, this is what else you can do:
    1. Click again the menu of Google Chrome, and open Settings.
    2. Select the Search Engine from the left panel, review the available search engines and change the default to your preference.default search engine
    3. Then, click on Manage Search Engines, review the list of search engine availabilities and if any of the listed items looks suspicious, click the three-dots next to them, and delete.suspicious search engine
    4. Click on Privacy and Security in the left panel, select the Clear browsing data option, check every box except the Passwords one, and click Clear Data.clear browsing data
    5. Next step is to clear Notifications, select the Site settings option in the Privacy and Security section, then locate Notifications.clear notifications
    6. Review the listed websites in the Allow to send notifications section and if any of the entries shown there seem dubious or related to the browser hijacker, select the three dots next to the object and click on Remove.
  • Start Mozilla Firefox
  • On the top right click the three dashes

  • go to add-ons and themes
  • The add-ons manager will open
  • Carefully review review four Firefox Extensions
  • If any unwanted extension is present, click on the three horizontal dots and then Remove

  • After the extension is removed, restart Mozilla Firefox by closing it from the red dot in the top left and start it again.
To make sure Mirai is removed from the browser  we recommend to scan with a reputable antimalware program like SpyHunter for Mac

Step 3: Scan for and remove Mirai files from your Mac

Fix your browser settings with SpyHunter Anti-Malware

Once you download and install SpyHunter for Mac run a scan.

Once the scan is complete, your mac will be virus free.

Mirai malware Frequently Asked Questions:

  • How do I get rid of Mirai?

Mirai is a Browser hijacker – malicious software that can be installed by third-party applications or websites. They usually change the settings of web browsers and search engines to display certain ads, pop-ups, banners, etc.

  • What are the symptoms of Mirai infection in your Mac?

Mirai becomes your web browser’s built-in search engine.

Your browser’ s search queries are redirected through Mirai.com

The “Mirai” browser extension or some shady software is installed on your Mac.

  • How do I remove Mirai from my browser?

In Internet Explorer, click the gear icon on the top left and select Manage add-ons. Under Add-on Types, select Search Providers. Select your search engine from the list of providers and click Remove to remove it. In Google Chrome, go to Settings (at the top right) and choose Search in the On Startup drop down menu.

  • How do I uninstall Mirai?
If you made a mistake when installing an app on your mac, the easiest way to uninstall it is by right clicking on its icon in your dock, then going to ‘move to trash’. Once it’s gone, restart your mac. If that didn’t work for you, try rebooting and looking for an icon opening up. Once you’ve found that, go to utilities/get info, then go to the ‘Applications’ tab and look for the app. Right-click it and select ‘Get Info’ and then look for the option to ‘Uninstall this Version’. If that doesn’t work, restart your mac again. If you don’t have any luck you can always use the SpyHunter free uninstall.

How to Make Your Mac Run Faster?

You might be wondering how to make your Mac run faster? It is a common misconception that the more processing power you have, the faster your computer will run. In reality, it’s actually about what’s going on in your processor and memory. For the average person using a computer for just general applications like word processing and web browsing, you don’t need much in the way of computing power.

– Use an SSD drive instead of a hard disk drive.

– Double your RAM if possible.

– Disable System Integrity Protection (SIP). (Attention! – do this only if you know the consequences.)

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