PikaBot Malware

Trojan
by Lidia Howler
May 24, 2023

PikaBot

Today’s article is devoted to PikaBot – a new Trojan Horse variant which can harm your system in a very serious way. If you’ve discovered that this particular threat has sneaked inside your PC, then the information here will be very useful to you. Our goal is to inform our readers about the consequences PikaBot may have on their systems, as well as about the way to locate it, and remove it from there.

The PikaBot malware can function on your PC as the hackers' eyes and ears.
The PikaBot malware

For instance, the Trojans are often used to corrupt or delete information on the computer of the victim. They can format all of your disks, and drives easily, wiping them clean of everything that you have stored on them, trojans are among the most notorious and advanced computer viruses that could be met online.

This can be achieved through different methods, and for different purposes. Basically, the attacker wants to deprive you of some important files, documents, or digital information that you have.

The PikaBot Malware

Trojans such as PikaBot are multi-functional malware instruments that can be used for different damaging operations. You probably want to know the exact purpose of PikaBot on your machine, but, sadly, nobody can tell you what this infection can do until it actually completes its agenda.

SUMMARY:

NamePikaBot
TypeTrojan
Detection Tool

Please follow all the steps below in order to remove PikaBot!

How to remove PikaBot

  1. First, click the Start Menu on your Windows PC.
  2. Type Programs and Settings in the Start Menu, click the first item, and find PikaBot in the programs list that would show up.
  3. Select PikaBot from the list and click on Uninstall.
  4. Follow the steps in the removal wizard.

If you have a Mac virus, please use our How to remove Ads on Mac guide.

If you have an Android virus, please use our Android Malware Removal guide.

If you have an iPhone virus, please use our iPhone Virus Removal guide.

What we suggest you do first is, check the list of programs that are presently installed on the infected device and uninstall any rogue software that you find there:

  • From the Start Menu, navigate to Control Panel ->>> Programs and Features ->>> Uninstall a Program.
  • Next, carefully search for unfamiliar programs or programs that have been installed recently and could be related to PikaBot.
  • If you find any of the programs suspicious then uninstall them if they turn out to be linked to PikaBot.
  • If a notification appears on your screen when you try to uninstall a specific questionable program prompting you to just alter it or repair it, make sure you choose NO and complete the steps from the removal wizard.

Remove PikaBot from Chrome

  1. Click on the three dots in the right upper corner
  2. Go to more tools
  3. Now select extensions
  4. Remove the PikaBot extension
  • Once you open Chrome, click on the three-dots icon to open the browser’s menu, go to More Tools/ More Options, and then to Extensions.
  • Again, find the items on that page that could be linked to the malware and/or that might be causing problems in the browser and delete them.
  • Afterwards, go to this folder: Computer > C: > Users > *Your User Account* > App Data > Local > Google > Chrome > User Data. In there, you will find a folder named Default – you should change its name to Backup Default and restart the PC.
  • Note that the App Data folder is normally hidden so you’d have to first make the hidden files and folders on your PC visible before you can access it.

How to get rid of PikaBot on FF/Edge/etc.

  1. Open the browser and select the menu icon.
  2. From the menu, click on the Add-ons button.
  3. Look for the PikaBot extension
  4. Get rid of PikaBot by removing it from extensions

If using Firefox:

  • Open Firefox
  • Select the three parallel lines menu and go to Add-ons.
  • Find the unwanted add-on and delete it from the browser – if there is more than one unwanted extension, remove all of them.
  • Go to the browser menu again, select Options, and then click on Home from the sidebar to the left.
  • Check the current addresses for the browser’s homepage and new-tab page and change them if they are currently set to address(es) you don’t know or trust.

If using MS Edge/IE:

  • Start Edge
  • Select the browser menu and go to Extensions.
  • Find and uninstall any Edge extensions that look undesirable and unwanted.
  • Select Settings from the browser menu and click on Appearance.
  • Check the new-tab page address of the browser and if it has been modified by the malicious program or another unwanted app, change it to an address that you’d want to be the browser’s new-tab page.

How to Delete PikaBot

  1. Open task manager
  2. Look for the PikaBot process
  3. Select it and click on End task
  4. Open the file location to delete PikaBot
  • Access the Task Manager by pressing together the Ctrl + Alt + Del keys and then selecting Task Manager.
  • Open Processes and there try to find a process with the name of the unwanted software. If you find it, select it with the right button of the mouse and click on the Open File Location option.
  • If you don’t see a malicious process in the Task Manager, look for another suspicious process with an unusual name. It is likely that the unwanted process would be using lots of RAM and CPU so pay attention to the number of resources each process is using.
  • Tip: If you think you have singled out the unwanted process but are not sure, it’s always a good idea to search for information about it on the Internet – this should give you a general idea if the process is a legitimate one from a regular program or from your OS or if it is indeed likely linked to the adware.
  • If you find another suspicious process, open its File Location too.
  • Once in the File Location folder for the suspicious process, start testing all of the files that are stored there by dragging them to our free online scanner available below.
  • Each file will be scanned with up to 64 antivirus programs to ensure maximum accuracy
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    • If the scanner finds malware in any of the files, return to the Processes tab in the Task Manager, select the suspected process, and then select the End Process option to quit it.
    • Go back to the folder where the files of that process are located and delete all of the files that you are allowed to delete. If all files get deleted normally, exit the folder and delete that folder too. If one or more of the files showed an error message when you tried to delete them, leave them for now and return to try to delete them again once you’ve completed the rest of the guide.

    How to Uninstall PikaBot

    1. Click on the home button
    2. Search for Startup Apps
    3. Look for PikaBot in there
    4. Uninstall PikaBot from Startup Apps by turning it off
    • Now you need to carefully search for and uninstall any PikaBot-related entries from the Registry. The easiest way to do this is to open the Registry Editor app (type Regedit in the windows search field and press Enter) and then open a Find dialog (CTRL+F key combination) where you have to type the name of the threat. 
    • Perform a search by clicking on the Find Next button and delete any detected results. Do this as many times as needed until no more results are found. 
    • After that, to ensure that there are no remaining entries lined to PikaBot in the Registry, go manually to the following directories and delete them:
    • HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Random Directory. 
    • HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Windows/CurrentVersion/Run/Random
    • HKEY_CURRENT_USER/Software/Microsoft/Internet Explorer/Main/Random

    What is PikaBot?

    PikaBot is Trojan horse. Infections like PikaBot, POSetup and Nwjs is for espionage and robbery. Advanced Trojans like this one can function on your PC as the hackers’ eyes and ears. They can secretly hack into your webcam and watch you or listen to your conversations through your microphone. This way, the criminals behind the infection can acquire a lot of information about your home, or office environment, collect private and professional data about you, and spy on all of your activities. This can be performed for stalking purposes, or for the purposes of virtual theft and even physical robbery.
    Sometimes, the hackers may decide to use the Trojan virus in your system in order to exploit the resources of your PC for whatever purpose. For example, they may turn your computer into a bot, and use it to secretly distribute spam from it, or to infect other computers within your network.
    Also, the Trojan can be used as a backdoor for other malware. An infection of this kind can easily serve as a support tool for the distribution of various viruses, and stealthy infections such as Ransomware or Spyware. That’s why, in case you suspect that PikaBot has sneaked inside your system, you should take immediate actions to remove it.


    Is PikaBot dangerous?

    Social engineering is a common way to infect people with Trojans such as PikaBot. Specifically, with this type of malware, spam emails are probably the most successful method of distribution. The malicious payload may be disguised as a message from a well-known company, an online vendor, or even some governmental institution. However, such malware can also be concealed in some type of downloadable content, like a torrent file, a game, an audio file, etc. That’s why it is best to use reliable security software to protect your system, and to remove such threats on time.


    About the author

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    Lidia Howler

    Lidia is a web content creator with years of experience in the cyber-security sector. She helps readers with articles on malware removal and online security. Her strive for simplicity and well-researched information provides users with easy-to-follow It-related tips and step-by-step tutorials.

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