Iminent Community Toolbar

Posted: February 28, 2013

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.

Ranking:	3,304
Threat Level:	5/10
Infected PCs:	92,621

First Seen:	February 28, 2013
Last Seen:	October 17, 2023
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

The Iminent Community Toolbar is a browser add-on associated with Iminent.com, a domain known for its long-held cross-marketing efforts with diverse types of Potentially Unwanted Programs. The Iminent Community Toolbar uses minor, emoticon-based features as an excuse for its installation, but its primary purpose is to launch advertisements, hijack your browser and redirect it to arbitrarily-selected websites.

The Imminent Problems You'll Face with the Iminent Community Toolbar

Iminent.com previously came under analysis by malware researchers due to its questionably-functional search engine, its ties to PUPs like LyricalParty or SySaver, and the distribution of its products through bundle utilities like AirInstaller. However, in terms of its marketing, all of these are secondary to Iminent.com's toolbar, which provides 'smiley faces' and other, trivial instant messaging enhancements as a tradeoff for advertising and browser hijacks. Previously offered at Informer.com, the Iminent Community Toolbar has been taken down, possibly subject to replacement by other add-ons like the IMinent Toolbar.

A critical, but unmentioned limitation of the Iminent Community Toolbar's emoticon feature is that instant message users who aren't using the same toolbar are unable to see its emoticons. In the meantime, while you're led to believe that you're gaining enhanced IM capabilities from this software, the Iminent Community Toolbar may:

Insert advertisements into your Web browser, which may display as injected links, banners or other inserted elements.
Redirect your default homepage or search engine to Iminent.com or domains like Conduit.com.

Walking Away from a Community of Ambiguous Tactics

The Iminent Community Toolbar and its site are tailored for teens and children, in particular, but are no less subject to the same security and performance problems that dominate all similar toolbars aimed at adults. Parents who allow their children to browse the Web freely may want to consider the benefits of talking about the dangers of toolbars. Besides that common-sense solution, malware experts also would encourage using PC security tools to scan any computer with an Iminent Community Toolbar installed, which will allow the deletion of the offending program and hopefully, the removal of its diverse software changes.

Search results promoted through the Iminent Community Toolbar's favored sites may not automatically be threatening to your PC in every case. However, the majority of PUPs, including the Iminent Community Toolbar, have reputations for poor security in choosing their advertising partners, and an endorsement from a toolbar known for being installed automatically is, obviously, not a high guarantee for your computer's safety.

Aliases

Adware.BGuard.13 [DrWeb]

Technical Details

File System Modifications

Tutorials: If you wish to learn how to remove malware components manually, you can read the tutorials on how to find malware, kill unwanted processes, remove malicious DLLs and delete other harmful files. Always be sure to back up your PC before making any changes.

The following files were created in the system:

C:\windows\system32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\searchprotupdate[1].exe

File name: searchprotupdate[1].exe
Size: 2.86 MB (2864448 bytes)
MD5: be5c0e39be31233770c92bd54492f856
Detection count: 5,206
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: C:\windows\system32\config\systemprofile\AppData\Local\Microsoft\Windows\Temporary Internet Files\Content.IE5\searchprotupdate[1].exe
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: February 28, 2023

C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Umbrella\Umbrella.exe

File name: Umbrella.exe
Size: 2.86 MB (2868544 bytes)
MD5: 1b6ebaa539502c816930ae4fc9f192fe
Detection count: 2,897
File type: Executable File
Mime Type: unknown/exe
Path: C:\Program Files (x86)\Common Files\Umbrella\Umbrella.exe
Group: Malware file
Last Updated: January 23, 2023

Registry Modifications

The following newly produced Registry Values are:

CLSID{01A602A0-D0B9-445B-8081-719E4177C4A7}{02054E11-5113-4BE3-8153-AA8DFB5D3761}{02C9C7B0-C7C8-4AAC-A9E4-55295BF60F8F}{0398B101-6DA7-473F-A290-17D2FBC88CC0}{0CC36196-8589-4B80-A771-D659411D7F90}{143D96F9-EB64-48B3-B192-91C2C41A1F43}{14F7D91F-F669-45C9-9F42-BACBFDB86EAD}{187A6488-6E71-4A2A-B118-7BEFBFE58257}{2BF2028E-3F3C-4C05-AB45-B2F1DCFE0759}{2D065204-A024-4C39-8A38-EE7078EC7ACF}{30F5476C-677B-4DB0-B397-51F5BFD86840}{3223F2FB-D9B9-45FC-9D66-CD717FFA4EE5}{351798B1-C1D2-45AB-92B4-4D6C2D6AB5AF}{3AEA1BEF-6195-46F4-ACA2-0ED14F7EFA1B}{3D7F9AC3-BAC3-4E51-81D7-D121D79E550A}{4498C5E9-93C6-4142-B6BE-F0C6DC48B77A}{479BF2D6-E362-4A99-B1AB-BC764D7B97AE}{492A108F-51D0-4BD8-899D-AD4AB2893064}{4B6D6E60-FBD2-4E79-BF4B-886BC98F1797}{60893E02-2E5B-43F9-A93A-BAD60C2DF6EF}{6D39931F-451E-4BDD-BAF4-37FB96DBBA5D}{76C684D2-C35D-4284-976A-D862F53ADB81}{796D822A-C3F9-4A97-BAAB-42FE7628EA63}{79EF3691-EC1A-4705-A01A-D2E36EC11758}{82F41418-8E64-47EB-A7F1-4702A974D289}{85D920CE-63A7-46DC-8992-41D1D2E07FAD}{895ED5E8-ABB4-40C3-A0CA-2571964268E2}{8AAC123A-1959-4A45-BFC5-E2D50783098A}{A07956CD-81F8-4A03-B524-5D87E690DC83}{B5E3B26B-6E5C-4865-A63D-58D04B10E245}{B84D2DC5-42B2-4E5E-BF61-7B48152FF8EF}{B89D5309-0367-4494-A92F-3D4C94F88307}{C014EBF8-8854-448B-B5A4-557C4090EDCE}{C31191DB-2F64-464C-B97C-6AC81ACB7AAC}{C342C7A7-F622-4EF3-8B7F-ABB9FBE73F14}{C4765B07-BC2F-477B-925C-B2BF24887823}{C875C0A1-09E3-48D5-9F8E-BD337796FD14}{CD126DA6-FF5B-4181-AC13-54A62240D2FA}{DB538320-D3C5-433C-BCA9-C4081A054FCF}{DD438708-AAB4-422D-A322-B619589F5680}{E812AE43-7799-4E67-8CF8-4104297A2D16}{F0BAAEC7-9AE0-49FF-9C4B-86E774FF397F}{F92193FD-2243-4401-9ACC-49FF30885898}{FD21B8A2-910B-45AC-9C10-45E6A8B84984}HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\[APPLICATION]\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Uninstall..{Uninstaller}{F21C2F7B-F787-447C-98FB-962EA0179908}