Malware

Security

8 sections
30 source tickets

Last synthesized: 2026-02-13 02:51 | Model: gpt-5-mini
Table of Contents

1. Browser push-notification / fake antivirus pop-ups (adware/notification phishing)

10 tickets

2. Endpoint antivirus detections and quarantines (Defender detections like Epibrowser)

5 tickets

3. ISP home-network malware alerts (Aisuru and consumer router/IoT concerns)

2 tickets

4. False-positive malware detections in SharePoint-stored PDF files

1 tickets

5. macOS startup warnings for managed scripts (/Library/Management/Scripts) reported as 'This file damages your computer'

9 tickets

6. Third-party meeting app repeatedly appearing in Microsoft Teams (suspected malware)

1 tickets

7. Long-running or apparently stuck Microsoft Defender Security & Threat scan

1 tickets

8. Automatic redirect to explicit/external website after clicking a domain

1 tickets

1. Browser push-notification / fake antivirus pop-ups (adware/notification phishing)
95% confidence
Problem Pattern

Users reported frequent, repeated browser pop-ups styled as system antivirus warnings (e.g., Avira, Avast, McAfee) claiming trojans or expired protection, appearing in Chrome or Edge as site-initiated notifications or modal webpage dialogs. Alerts often recurred every few seconds, overlapped work areas, and persisted after clicks, causing uncertainty whether endpoints were infected. Symptoms commonly followed visits to specific websites or acceptance of site notification permissions.

Solution

Incidents were resolved by removing or blocking the browser-originated notification source and applying browser-based filtering, and where applicable by running endpoint scans and rebooting. Support removed offending sites from the browser notification allow list in Chrome and Edge (Site Settings → Notifications), installed uBlock Origin when used, and cleared site cookies for affected sessions. Support also performed full endpoint scans during remote sessions (Trellis disk scans, Windows Defender, or third-party AV like McAfee) and rebooted systems; in several cases scans reported no resident malware and a reboot returned the system to normal. After notification permissions were revoked or filtering applied the push notifications and fake-antivirus pop-ups stopped and no further infection was found in the investigated cases.

2. Endpoint antivirus detections and quarantines (Defender detections like Epibrowser)
90% confidence
Problem Pattern

Endpoint antivirus alerts on Windows laptops/desktops (Microsoft Defender or other AVs) reported detected threats (for example epibrowser/epibrowser_proxy.exe) and showed user-visible "Threat found" or antivirus alert dialogs. Symptoms included quarantined files, antivirus UI alerts, multiple simultaneous malware-family detections or other indicators of infection, and user-reported residual browser push-notification pop-ups. Affected systems were endpoint devices (laptops/workstations) with users often still able to access Teams for communication.

Solution

Antivirus products (Microsoft Defender in documented Epibrowser cases and Trelix in other cases) quarantined and stopped the identified malicious binaries (for example epibrowser_proxy.exe and related files). Support confirmed quarantines and ran full workstation scans; in single-detection cases scans returned clean and no persistent OS-resident malware was found, and remaining browser push-notification artifacts were determined to be browser-level rather than a resident infection. When multiple malware families or stronger infection indicators were present, affected endpoints were proactively isolated from network access and the cybersecurity team led an investigation; remediation in those incidents required device wipe/reimage or issuing a replacement device. Support teams contacted users (Teams remained available in documented cases) to coordinate replacement or reset actions.

3. ISP home-network malware alerts (Aisuru and consumer router/IoT concerns)
40% confidence
Problem Pattern

ISP security notifications identified an IP on a subscriber’s broadband as infected (example detection: 'Aisuru') and sent alerts to users; affected users were concerned that corporate laptops used on the same home network were infected. Symptoms were ISP emails naming the infection and uncertainty about which home device caused the detection.

Solution

The tickets recorded ISP-originated alerts and user concern but did not document a single confirmed remediation for the ISP detections. Investigations in the corpus found no definitive confirmation of corporate endpoint compromise tied to the ISP alerts; cases noted the likelihood of non-corporate home devices (IoT or personal devices) being the source and referenced typical home-network mitigations (router/firmware/credentials, device isolation) without a documented, ticketed closure specific to the Aisuru alert.

Source Tickets (2)
4. False-positive malware detections in SharePoint-stored PDF files
95% confidence
Problem Pattern

A backup process failed for several SharePoint-hosted PDF files because Microsoft flagged them as malware, producing a "Malware detected - Some Commands aren’t available" error. Affected items were student-created PDFs generated with PDF Creator.

Solution

Support scanned and inspected the flagged PDFs, identified that PDF Creator embedded a link to its own software which caused Microsoft Defender to produce false positives, and then marked the files/users as authorized so the files were allowed by the backup process. After the exception was applied the backup failures ceased and no malicious content was found in the scanned PDFs.

Source Tickets (1)
5. macOS startup warnings for managed scripts (/Library/Management/Scripts) reported as 'This file damages your computer'
52% confidence
Problem Pattern

macOS devices displayed Gatekeeper-style launch-time warnings naming shell scripts (for example ProtectAdminGroup.sh, ProtectRootAccount.sh, ProtectOfflinePolicies.sh) such as "<script> damaged your computer" or "This file was downloaded on an unknown date." The pop-ups recurred on startup or when returning to the device and referenced scripts present in /Library/Management/Scripts or visible in Finder. The affected files were Jamf-managed or vendor-supplied management scripts that could not be removed without administrator credentials.

Solution

Multiple incidents of macOS Gatekeeper/launch-time warnings that named management scripts were investigated and traced to Jamf-managed or vendor-supplied scripts (files located in /Library/Management/Scripts or visible in Finder) with historical execution logs. In the ticket corpus the recurring warnings were resolved by delivering updated packages or vendor-signed replacements via the management system; those packages were applied when devices received them (commonly after a reboot) or after a Self Service inventory update, and the Gatekeeper warnings stopped once the updated or cryptographically signed script versions were installed. A small subset of cases referenced vendor-supplied tooling where resolution occurred after the supplier delivered a signed update and macOS/software updates completed. Tickets also recorded that the files could not be removed without administrator credentials and that support teams escalated to specialists when package delivery did not immediately clear the popup.

6. Third-party meeting app repeatedly appearing in Microsoft Teams (suspected malware)
90% confidence
Problem Pattern

A third-party meeting app (called 'Read App' / 'Reap App') persistently appeared in Microsoft Teams meetings after a user signed in, leading to suspicion that it was malicious and difficulty removing it via the Teams UI.

Solution

The issue was resolved when the user removed the account associated with the app; after the account deletion the app no longer appeared in Teams meetings and the behavior stopped.

Source Tickets (1)
7. Long-running or apparently stuck Microsoft Defender Security & Threat scan
90% confidence
Problem Pattern

Microsoft Defender 'Security and Threat' full scan appeared to be stuck or running for an extended period on a Windows workstation. The user was unsure whether to restart the machine and reported a recent phishing incident on the same workstation. No specific error codes or Defender alerts were shown; scan progress appeared stalled to the user.

Solution

The Defender scan was allowed to continue running until it completed. The next day the user confirmed the scan had finished successfully and Defender did not report any issues. No system restart was required and no malware was found during the completed scan.

Source Tickets (1)
8. Automatic redirect to explicit/external website after clicking a domain
75% confidence
Problem Pattern

User clicked an external domain link and was automatically redirected to an explicit/adult website without intending to navigate there. The browser performed an automatic redirect to an erotic site after accessing https://halynaleontiy.de/, and the user reported the redirect as unexpected. No browser error messages or malware alerts were reported by the user.

Solution

Security reviewed the reported URL and did not find any indicators of compromise or malware; no security detections were reported. IT documented the event, suggested informing the named colleague about the domain, and no further remediation was recorded; the ticket was closed after a period with no further user response.

Source Tickets (1)
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