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  • Active
  • Severity: High
  • Malware
  • Windows, Mac
  • Verified · Oct 2020

How to remove Nano Adblocker & Nano Defender

A step-by-step removal guide for affected devices. Follow the verified procedure below — most readers complete it in under 10 minutes.

Lucia Danes · Virus researcher

Nano Adblocker & Nano Defender – legitimate apps that have gone rogue

Nano Adblocker & Nano Defender

Nano Adblocker & Nano Defender is a prime example of what can happen to perfectly reputable and legitimate applications if sold to a suspicious third-party. These apps are extensions designed to block annoying pop-ups, deals, offers, and other annoying commercial content all over the web. They are available on Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, MS Edge, and a few other web browsers.

Unfortunately, Nano Adblocker & Nano Defender were recently sold to unknown developers, as announced by the extensions author jspenguin2017 at the start of October 2020. Unfortunately, the new owners decided to tweak the program's code in a negative way and turned both extensions into malware. When running on users' machines, apps can monitor users' traffic or other data, execute code remotely, and enlist user Instagram or other social media accounts in promotion fraud.

It is important to note that only Chromium-based versions of the app were affected (Google already removed it from their store). MS Edge remains under the control of the previous owner and will no longer receive further updates. In any case, we recommend users to remove Nano Adblocker & Nano Defender from their browsers and perform further actions to secure their online safety.

Name Nano Adblocker & Nano Defender
Type Malware 
Infiltration  Official web stores 
Affected web browsers  Google Chrome, MS Edge, Opera, Vivaldi, Brave
Issues  Analysis obfuscation, social media account hijacking, online traffic capture, cookie session hijack, etc.
Dangers  Personal information disclosure to unknown parties or cybercriminals, malware infection, social media account compromise 
Removal  If you have installed the versions of the apps of which were affected by the compromise, you should immediately terminate them from your web browsers, scan the machine with reputable anti-malware, and change passwords for all your accounts 
System fix If you found your machine infected with malware, it might cause damage to your system. If you experience crashes, errors, or other issues after virus termination, attempt to fix these problems with FortectIntego

With the new capabilities and actions of the new developers, Nano Adblocker & Nano Defender are now considered to be malware. If you are using any of these apps on a Mozilla Firefox web browser, that version is still secure, although we would still recommend switching to a different ad-blocker.

Nano Adblocker & Nano Defender attempts to avoid analysis, includes social media accounts in fraud and can check for particular information remotely

During the analysis of a Github user gorhill,[1], it was revealed that the new developers have plenty of dubious intent with the new acquisition of the software. The first red flag was raised when the researcher attempted to use a development console to analyze software – allegedly, Nano Adblocker & Nano Defender change the behavior as soon as development tools are spotted:

Code was added to detect that the dev console of the extension is being opened. If you open the dev console of Nano Defender 15.0.0.206, a notification named report is sent to https://def.dev-nano.com/, or in simple words the extension remotely checks whether you are using the extension dev tools — which is what you would do if you wanted to find out what the extension is doing.

In other words, the app is capable of changing its behavior as soon as it detects that it is being analyzed. These obfuscation and anti-analysis techniques are known to be implemented by most sophisticated malware types, such as Trojans or backdoors.[2]

Nano Adblocker & Nano Defender malware

Users who were affected by the problem said that they found that their Instagram accounts have been used to promote unknown influences by liking their posts. Likewise, they also claimed that they received multiple requests from people all over the world. In other words,  Nano Adblocker & Nano Defender malware could have tampered with your social media account and engage in promotional campaigns without your permission or consent.

Without a doubt, Nano Adblocker & Nano Defender removal is a necessary process to ensure that your privacy is secured. While you can eliminate these extensions easily, you should also ensure that extra steps to secure your accounts and privacy are taken – you should scan the machine with SpyHunterCombo Cleaner, MalwarebytesMalwarebytes, or another reputable anti-malware and then fix virus damage with FortectIntego if necessary.

Nano Adblocker & Nano Defender removal steps

As previously mentioned, you don't have to remove Nano Adblocker & Nano Defender if you are using Firefox, as the app operates as previously. Despite this, experts[3] recommend avoiding apps that are no longer supported – there are plenty of reputable ad-blocking extension alternatives.

Nano Adblocker & Nano Defender removal on other browsers is mandatory. As long as you let these apps run in the background, your social media accounts and other private information is not secure. Additionally, due to the significant modifications performed to the apps' code, it might be possible that it could be associated with other malicious activity in the future, such as malware proliferation. Thus, ensure that your computer is secure with SpyHunterCombo Cleaner, MalwarebytesMalwarebytes, or another powerful anti-malware.

Nano Adblocker & Nano Defender virus

Since malware could have gained access to your passwords, it is imperative to change them all immediately after the removal process. You should also check your social media profile history, such as liked pages or posts, as Nano Adblocker & Nano Defender virus might have tampered with all of this. Below you will find the instructions on how to clean your web browsers and delete unwanted extensions.

Reset Internet Explorer

Remove dangerous add-ons:

  1. Open Internet Explorer, click on the Gear icon (IE menu) on the top-right corner of the browser
  2. Pick Manage Add-ons.
  3. You will see a Manage Add-ons window. Here, look for suspicious plugins. Click on these entries and select Disable.Remove add-ons from Internet Explorer

Change your homepage if it was altered:

  1. Open IE and click on the Gear icon.
  2. Select Internet Options.
  3. In the General tab, delete the Home page address and replace it by your preferred one (for example, Google.com).
  4. Click Apply and then select OK.Reset IE homepage

Delete temporary files:

  1. Press on the Gear icon and select Internet Options.
  2. Under Browsing history, click Delete...
  3. Select relevant fields and press Delete.Clear temporary files from Internet Explorer

Reset Internet Explorer:

  1. Click on Gear icon > Internet options and select Advanced tab.
  2. Select Reset.
  3. In the new window, check Delete personal settings and select Reset.Reset Internet Explorer

Remove from Microsoft Edge

Delete unwanted extensions from MS Edge:

  1. Select Menu (three horizontal dots at the top-right of the browser window) and pick Extensions.
  2. From the list, pick the extension and click on the Gear icon.
  3. Click Remove.Remove extensions from Edge

Clear cookies and other browser data:

  1. Click on the Menu (three horizontal dots at the top-right of the browser window) and select Settings > Privacy, search, and services..
  2. Under Clear browsing data, pick Choose what to clear.
  3. Select Cookies and other site data and Cached images and files. (apart from passwords, although you might want to include Media licenses as well, if applicable) and click on Clear.Clear Edge browsing data

Restore new tab and homepage settings:

  1. Click the menu icon and choose Settings.
  2. Then find On startup section.
  3. Click Remove next to any suspicious startup page.

Reset MS Edge if the above steps did not work:

  1. Press on Ctrl + Shift + Esc to open Task Manager.
  2. Click on More details arrow at the bottom of the window.
  3. Select Details tab.
  4. Now scroll down and locate every entry with Microsoft Edge name in it. Right-click on each of them and select End Task to stop MS Edge from running.Reset MS Edge

Instructions for Chromium-based Edge

Delete extensions from MS Edge (Chromium):

  1. Open Edge and click select Settings > Extensions.
  2. Delete unwanted extensions by clicking Remove.Remove extensions from Chromium Edge

Clear cache and site data:

  1. Click on Menu and go to Settings.
  2. Select Privacy, search and services.
  3. Under Clear browsing data, pick Choose what to clear.
  4. Under Time range, pick All time.
  5. Select Clear now.Clear browser data from Chroum Edge

Reset Chromium-based MS Edge:

  1. Click on Menu and select Settings.
  2. On the left side, pick Reset settings.
  3. Select Restore settings to their default values.
  4. Confirm with Reset.
  5. This will disable extensions and reset startup pages but will not delete bookmarks, saved passwords, or browsing history.Reset Chromium Edge

Remove from Mozilla Firefox (FF)

Remove dangerous extensions:

  1. Open Mozilla Firefox browser and click on the Menu (three horizontal lines at the top-right of the window).
  2. Select Add-ons.
  3. In here, select the unwanted extension and click Remove.Remove extensions from Firefox

Reset the homepage:

  1. Click three horizontal lines at the top right corner to open the menu.
  2. Choose Settings.
  3. Under Home, set your preferred homepage and new tab settings.

Clear cookies and site data:

  1. Click Menu and pick Settings.
  2. Go to Privacy & Security section.
  3. Scroll down to locate Cookies and Site Data.
  4. Click on Clear Data...
  5. Select Cookies and Site Data and Temporary cached files and pages, then click Clear.Clear cookies and site data from Firefox

Reset Mozilla Firefox

If clearing the browser as explained above did not help, reset Mozilla Firefox:

  1. Open Mozilla Firefox browser and click the Menu.
  2. Go to Help and then choose Troubleshooting Information.Reset Firefox 1
  3. Under Give Firefox a tune up section, click on Refresh Firefox...
  4. Once the pop-up shows up, confirm the action by pressing on Refresh Firefox.Reset Firefox 2

Remove from Google Chrome

Delete malicious extensions from Google Chrome:

  1. Open Google Chrome, click on the Menu (three vertical dots at the top-right corner) and select More tools > Extensions.
  2. In the newly opened window, you will see all the installed extensions. Uninstall all suspicious extensions related to the unwanted program by clicking Remove.Remove extensions from Chrome

Clear cache and web data from Chrome:

  1. Click on Menu and pick Settings.
  2. Under Privacy and security, select Clear browsing data.
  3. Select Browsing history, Cookies and other site data, as well as Cached images and files.
  4. Click Clear data.Clear cache and web data from Chrome

Change your homepage:

  1. Click menu and choose Settings.
  2. Look for a suspicious site in the On startup section.
  3. Click on Open a specific or set of pages and click on three dots to find the Remove option.

Reset Google Chrome:

If the previous methods did not help you, reset Google Chrome to eliminate all the unwanted components:

  1. Click on Menu and select Settings.
  2. In the Settings, scroll down and click Advanced.
  3. Scroll down and locate Reset and clean up section.
  4. Now click Restore settings to their original defaults.
  5. Confirm with Reset settings.Reset Chrome 2

Delete from Safari

Remove dangerous extensions:

  1. Open Safari, click Safari in the menu at the top-left of the screen, and select Preferences.
  2. Go to the Extensions tab, look for any suspicious entries, and click Uninstall to remove them.Remove extensions from Safari

Clear history and website data:

  1. Click Safari in the menu and pick Clear History.
  2. Set Clear to all history and confirm with Clear History.Clear history from Safari

Reset Safari:

  1. Click Safari in the menu and select Preferences > Advanced.
  2. Enable Show Develop menu in menu bar.
  3. From the menu bar, click Develop and select Empty Caches.Reset Safari

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