Quick Searcher Chrome Extension
Posted: October 23, 2017
Threat Metric
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: | 4,821 |
---|---|
Threat Level: | 1/10 |
Infected PCs: | 4,052 |
First Seen: | October 23, 2017 |
---|---|
Last Seen: | October 13, 2023 |
OS(es) Affected: | Windows |
The Quick Searcher Chrome Extension is a dubious browser add-on, which is only compatible with Google Chrome. Most strange extensions that researchers come across usually mess with the Chrome's configuration to change the new tab page or default search service provider. However, the Quick Searcher Chrome Extension is much different and threatening – it launches a CPU miner based on CoinHive to utilize the user's CPU resources to mine for a particular crypto-currency automatically. Naturally, the user gets nothing in return, while the authors of the Quick Searcher Chrome Extension reap in all the money that the miner harvests.
Usually, the CoinHive JS miner is used by particular websites in a legitimate manner, but this is the first time in which we see it being used by a browser extension. Because the miner is used by an extension that is running constantly, this means that the victim's CPU will mine for cryptocurrency for as long as Google Chrome is opened. The excessive use of CPU resources might reduce the system's overall performance, as well as cause other applications to work slowly or to not work at all.
The Quick Searcher Chrome Extension might be promoted via online ads, and users will need to install it manually. However, the download page of the Quick Searcher Chrome Extension might not mention anything about its cryptocurrency mining activities so that users might have no idea that they are about to 'lend' their CPU's resources to the developers of Quick Searcher. If you suspect that you might be running a browser extension, which also doubles as a CPU miner, then we advise you to deal with the issue as soon as possible. The removal of the Quick Searcher Chrome Extension can be carried out manually by removing the add-on for Chrome's settings, or automatically with the help of a suitable PC security tool.
Leave a Reply
Please note that we are not able to assist with billing and support issues regarding SpyHunter or other products. If you're having issues with SpyHunter, please get in touch with SpyHunter customer support through your SpyHunter . If you have SpyHunter billing questions, we recommend you check the Billing FAQ. For general suggestions or feedback, contact us.