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Pastimes : Mozilla: Firefox and Thunderbird Discussion ...
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From: Eric L7/14/2018 4:03:44 PM
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Firefox Pop-up Scam Alert: “Firefox requires a manual update” ...



I've been using Firefox as my primary browser since the early beta days in 2004. Until this morning I had never seen that popup and decided to track it down especially since I'd had an issue with Firefox last evening (making Bing searches that wouldn't connect because Norton Security was blocking them and I'd done a system restart I completed this morning). Sure enough It's a scam.

I believe I've eliminated the cause: See the endnote following the post below



malwaretips.com

The “Firefox requires a manual update” page is a social engineering attack that uses JavaScript to display a fake alert stating that you need to manually update Firefox. If you click on the “Install Now” button, rather than downloading an update for your browser, you will be forced to install a malicious Firefox extension.

The “Firefox requires a manual update” alert is displayed by malicious or hacked websites to force the users into installing malicious Firefox add-ons. The alerts generated by the malicious sites will display the following message:

Firefox requires a manual update

This update is required to ensure that you are protected on the Internet
Install now

* This update is required * Protect yourself immediately on the internet
* Internet pages are automatically examined and possibly blocked
* Increased protection against malware and viruses

These malicious sites run a JavaScript code producing a dialog box, telling you that “Authentication Required” and asking for a username and password. Clicking “Cancel” once changes it to add a tick box marked “To display this page, Firefox must send information that will repeat any action (such as a search or order confirmation) that was performed earlier” Thinking that this is the ticket out of the page, you will tick that box and click “Resend”. At this point, your tab will go into “Full Screen” mode, and you will be prompted to install a malicious extension.

If you are tricked into installing one of these malicious Firefox add-ons, your browser search engine will be hijacked or pop-up ads and unwanted advertisements will be displayed on web pages that you visit.

A typical behavior for malicious extensions installed by the “Firefox requires a manual update” pop-up is:

• Advertising banners are injected with the web pages that you are visiting.
• Random web page text is turned into hyperlinks.
• Browser popups appear which recommend fake updates or other software.
• Your browser homepage and default search may be changed
• Your browser search queries are being redirected or tracked

< Big Snip of various ways to remove and fix the issue: See article text at link above >

# # #

Endnote: I used Rebo Uninstaller Pro to see what had installed lately that might have created the Scamware and to uninstall it. Looks like it was "SmartByte" from Rivet Networks that installed a few nights back.


Adios to it.

- Eric L. -
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