Norassie

Norassie is a family of adware or advertising software that may create undesirable symptoms such as pop-ups or browser-injected hyperlinks. As a Potentially Unwanted Program (PUP), Norassie can expose you to unsafe content, provoking further security concerns, or interfering with the quality of life of your Web-surfing activities. Appropriate anti-adware or other security tools can delete Norassie automatically, which will install itself in a disguised format.

Updates with a Little More than a Patch Inside

The very name of Potentially Unwanted Programs aptly describes the likeliness of victims to try to avoid installing them, although threat actors often circulate PUPs in ways that make them look like something else. Such attacks aren't beholden to a single type of tactic necessarily, but often use brand names that the user already trusts, as the Norassie family shows. These adware programs are most often encountered in the wild pretending to be an update for various brands of third-party software.

Malware researchers find most variants of Norassie installers faking to be a patch for Java. Secondary tactics also verifiable within this adware's history include Epson printer drivers, Flash Player installers, installers for Internet Explorer, and even Apache's OpenOffice installers. With system access, Norassie adds an entry to the Windows Registry that allows its process to launch along with the OS; at no point does Norassie notify the user of its installation or purpose as advertising software.

Since Norassie is a family, rather than a single adware program, it may display differing symptoms between installations. Issues malware researchers recommend watching for include:

• Norassie may modify the text of Web pages for hosting extra links to sponsored content.
• Norassie may inject advertising-based graphics into a Web page, such as a banner.
• Norassie may generate separate windows or tabs with full-screen advertisements.
• Your Web-browsing settings also may be reconfigured, such as having your searches or homepage redirect towards a site that Norassie promotes.

Simple Solutions to Complex Adware

Although it's Windows OS-oriented, Norassie is compatible with multiple brands of Web browsers. Repetitive exposure to pop-ups and other, sponsored Norassie content also has the risk of creating other security issues not fully predictable by malware analysts, such as loading exploit kits or phishing tactics. Disabling advertising content, pop-ups, and features like JavaScript from your browser can reduce, if not remove completely, some of the security issues associated with browser-based PUPs like Norassie.

A fake installer for common-knowledge products like Java is a threat actor-preferred means of distributing both minor and high-level threats, from PUPs like Norassie up to backdoor Trojans and spyware. Scan your downloads before opening them with security software that can identify any unwanted installers, and always avoid downloading updates that come from unofficial sources. While any appropriate software with anti-adware features should remove Norassie and all symptoms related to it, you also may wish to scan the rest of your PC to detect any related threats.

While advertisements have become a fixture of the everyday life, their presence in unauthorized or unusual formats can be signs of underlying problems with your PC. Never allow software like Norassie to take control over your Web-browsing activities even if it doesn't appear to be doing any immediate harm.