Gem Grab Ads

Posted: August 7, 2015

Threat Metric

The Threat Meter is a malware assessment that SpywareRemove.com's research team is able to give every identifiable malware threat. Our Threat Meter includes several criteria based off of specific malware threats to value their severity, reach and volume. The Threat Meter is able to give you a numerical breakdown of each threat's initial Threat Level, Detection Count, Volume Count, Trend Path and Percentage Impact. The overall ranking of each threat in the Threat Meter is a basic breakdown of how all threats are ranked within our own extensive malware database. The scoring for each specific malware threat can be easily compared to other emerging threats to draw a contrast in its particular severity. The Threat Meter is a useful tool in the endeavor of seeking a solution to remove a threat or pursue additional analytical research for all types of computer users.

The following fields listed on the Threat Meter containing a specific value, are explained in detail below:

Threat Level: The threat level scale goes from 1 to 10 where 10 is the highest level of severity and 1 is the lowest level of severity. Each specific level is relative to the threat's consistent assessed behaviors collected from SpyHunter's risk assessment model.

Detection Count: The collective number of confirmed and suspected cases of a particular malware threat. The detection count is calculated from infected PCs retrieved from diagnostic and scan log reports generated by SpyHunter.

Volume Count: Similar to the detection count, the Volume Count is specifically based on the number of confirmed and suspected threats infecting systems on a daily basis. High volume counts usually represent a popular threat but may or may not have infected a large number of systems. High detection count threats could lay dormant and have a low volume count. Criteria for Volume Count is relative to a daily detection count.

Trend Path: The Trend Path, utilizing an up arrow, down arrow or equal symbol, represents the level of recent movement of a particular threat. Up arrows represent an increase, down arrows represent a decline and the equal symbol represent no change to a threat's recent movement.

% Impact (Last 7 Days): This demonstrates a 7-day period change in the frequency of a malware threat infecting PCs. The percentage impact correlates directly to the current Trend Path to determine a rise or decline in the percentage.

Threat Level:	2/10
Infected PCs:	283

First Seen:	August 3, 2015
Last Seen:	May 11, 2023
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

Gem Grab is a freeware product that may deliver unwanted advertising content by modifying your Web browser's settings. Since advertising from Gem Grab loads automatically, and without controls for disabling them universally, they may cause your browser to experience performance issues or expose you to Web security hazards. Unless you have unusual justifications for a different response, most PC users should treat deleting Gem Grab with anti-adware solutions as part of their standard browser maintenance.

The Gem of an Adware Problem

Gem Grab is adware that malware analysts suspect of being derived from the Ads By Name family, which has included numerous variants for most Windows browsers. Like Coupon Titan Ads or other members of that adware collective, Gem Grab may use non-standard, non-consensual techniques to install itself on your PC and then launch browser advertisements for its personal revenue. Gem Grab is most likely to promote its affiliated advertisements as product recommendations, sponsored links and other shopping or search-related benefits.

Major distribution for Gem Grab advertisements only has been tracked since early August of 2015, with Firefox users being confirmed among those affected. Symptoms reported as a result of Gem Grab Ads being installed may include:

Advertising may inject itself into arbitrary Web pages. These advertisements primarily may include graphical elements like banners, but also may include text content and linked keywords.
You may see changes to your default browser homepage or search engine. Gem Grab may redirect your searches to another search site, modify the search results or lock your homepage to one of its preference, regardless of your browser's settings.
Advertisements in individual pop-up windows or tabs that may launch automatically, separated from your normal Web content.

Gem Grab has none of the expected attributes of a Trojan or other form of threat, although some resources may colloquially refer to Gem Grab as a virus. However, its advertising may slow your browser's loading times, cause general performance issues or expose your browser to corrupted scripts, online hoaxes and other PC threats.

Dimming the Sparkle of Gem Grab from Your Browser

Gem Grab is a Potentially Unwanted Program or a PUP that does not intend to harm your PC explicitly. Despite that categorization, malware experts continue advising PC owners to delete Gem Grab and other PUPs that don't make strong arguments for their presence. Extensive exposure to content promoted by Gem Grab may risk introducing additional threats through unsafe advertisements, regardless of whether or not you interact with any advertisements. Firefox users are most likely to be especially at risk from current versions of Gem Grab. However, different variants of Ads By Name products have been seen in IE, Chrome and other browsers.

Manual deletion of Gem Grab Ads may not remove all browser changes associated with this adware, including those responsible for launching its advertisements. Anti-adware products should be able to identify Gem Grab either specifically or heuristically while scanning your PC, after which they should be allowed to uninstall Gem Grab. After doing so, malware experts advise resetting all browser settings that could have been modified and refreshing your browser's cache.

The model for distribution being used by Gem Grab currently is unidentified, and malware experts have found no websites or consensual download links associated with the brand.

Technical Details

Registry Modifications

The following newly produced Registry Values are:

HKEY..\..\..\..{RegistryKeys}SOFTWARE\GemGrabSOFTWARE\Microsoft\Internet Explorer\LowRegistry\DOMStorage\gemgrab-a.akamaihd.netSOFTWARE\Wow6432Node\GemGrabSYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\Service Mgr GemGrabSYSTEM\ControlSet001\services\Update Mgr GemGrabSYSTEM\ControlSet002\services\Service Mgr GemGrabSYSTEM\ControlSet002\services\Update Mgr GemGrabSYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\Service Mgr GemGrabSYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\services\Update Mgr GemGrab

Additional Information

The following directories were created:

%PROGRAMFILES%\Gem Grab%PROGRAMFILES(x86)%\Gem Grab%temp%\Gem Grab