Click fraud malware: What is it, and can you remove it?

Click fraud malware is a type of malicious software designed to infect online advertising systems. It has the potential to cause significant problems and can cost you a lot of money if left unresolved.

Let’s begin with the basics...

What is click fraud malware?

So, what is click fraud malware exactly?

In short, it’s a specific type of software, firmware or hardware that’s designed to maliciously infect systems so that it can manipulate ads.

Its main purpose is to either inflate ad revenue for fraudsters, or to drain your ad budget, thereby sabotaging your campaign.

Malware is often hard to detect as it operates in a silent manner, running in the background on infected computers, smartphones and even IoT devices.

In some cases, once the malware has infected a system, it can conduct massive-scale ad fraud and you may be none the wiser.

How can malware infections happen?

Given its insidious nature, you may wonder how click fraud malware infections arise in the first place. Unsurprisingly, they can happen in many of the same ways that other computer viruses arise. Here’s a breakdown of some of the main causes:

• 🐎 Trojan horse applications — This can come in the form of apps that look legitimate in every way, but contain malicious code that spreads once it’s been installed.
• 🎣 Phishing emails — One of the most common ways for click fraud malware to get into a system is through fake emails that trick users into downloading the likes of attachments or clicking on harmful links. According to the FBI’s Internet Crime Report for 2024, over 298,000 complaints were filed over phishing schemes in 2023 in the US, amounting to 34% of all complaints.
• 🚗 Drive-by downloads — This is a type of infection that can happen when you visit malicious websites or legitimate sites that have been compromised. Malware can download onto your device without you even knowing.
• 💲 Malvertising — These come in the form of legitimate-looking ads that infect your device when clicked on.
• ⛓️💥 Exploitation of systems — In some cases, outdated software, browsers or devices can leave you vulnerable to malware

The main thing to remember is not to click on anything suspicious or unfamiliar. It could be the first step to suffering click fraud malware.

What can click fraud malware do?

It’s important to appreciate just how big a problem click fraud malware can cause you. The effects can be myriad too, making it harder to detect in the first place, and also a difficult problem to resolve.

Some of the main impacts it can have include:

• Generating fake ad clicks — The main impact click fraud malware has is that it can simulate ad clicks to steal ad revenue or deplete your advertising budget.
• Hijacking your device — Once infected, malware can slow down your device as it uses your resources to perform fraudulent activities.
• Exploiting your personal data — Malware can browse your histories, access sensitive data and harvest your data cookies.
• The potential to spread to other devices — Some types of malware can spread across internet networks, infecting multiple systems in a short space of time.

Examples of click fraud malware attacks

It’s all well and good explaining the risks and the potential impacts, but it helps to see examples of the damaging effects.

One of the most significant malware attacks involved a piece of software dubbed WireX. It exploited Android devices specifically, converting them into a botnet for ad fraud and helping distribute denial-of-service (DDoS) attacks. So big was the infection that it was even available in the Google Play Store before Google promptly removed all infected applications.

Another common type of click fraud malware is HummingBad. First emerging in 2016, this malware targets Android devices to display millions of malicious advertisements to drive clicks to ads.

These examples show just how important it is to remain vigilant online.

How to remove click fraud malware: A step-by-step guide

One of the biggest challenges that comes with click fraud malware is removing it. As mentioned above, certain software can spread across networks and to different devices. To help you fight back against it and clean your devices and systems, here’s a handy step-by-step guide.

Step 1 — Detection

The first step is to identify click fraud malware and understand just how big a problem there is. Here are some tips on detection:

1. Review device behavior — In order to detect click fraud malware, it’s very important that you review the activities and logs of your devices for anything unusual. In particular, look for unusually high CPC usage, slow performance overall, or unexpected internet traffic. You can also look at your ad campaigns to see if there are large numbers of clicks and compare this with the number of sessions in the likes of Google Analytics. If there is a discrepancy, something could be amiss. You can see our in-depth guide on clicks and sessions here.
2. Check for suspicious apps or extensions — Malware has become very sophisticated and can infect systems in subtle ways. One of these ways is through browser extensions and apps. Review what you’ve recently installed and take note of any unfamiliar items. Research their origin; they could be malicious.
3. Run a malware scan — One of the most effective ways to tackle malware is to run a virus scan on your devices and remove any harmful files. Lots of tools exist to help you do this, like Bitdefender, Norton and Avast.

Step 2 — Removal

Now that you’ve identified the problem, the next step is to remove all traces of click fraud malware. Here are some steps you can follow to do this:

1. Uninstall suspicious apps — The easiest way to remove malware is to uninstall suspicious files from your system. For this, you can’t just delete files and expect it to be done, you have to go through the uninstall process. Here are some tips for Windows and Mac:
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   1. On Windows: Open Control Panel > Programs > Uninstall a Program and remove anything unfamiliar.
   2. On macOS: Drag suspicious apps to the Trash and empty it. You can also press and hold the option key until the apps start moving. Then click the delete option
2. Delete harmful extensions — It’s also important to go through the same process with your web browsers, such as Chrome, Firefox, Edge, and Safari. Do a full review of your extensions and proceed to remove any unfamiliar ones. You can do this by:
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   1. On Chrome: Go to Settings > Extensions and remove unknown items.
   2. On Firefox: Navigate to Add-ons > Extensions and do the same.
3. Use anti-malware tools — After completing a malware scan, many reputable tools will offer the function of removing the harmful files it has identified. Proceed to do this to rid your system of the infection. It can also help to restart your PC and rerun the scan to make sure they’re all gone.
4. Reset browsers — If you’re having difficulty removing extensions from browsers, you can try uninstalling and reinstalling, or try restoring the software to its factory settings.
5. Check system files — If you’re a little more technically-minded, you could also check your device’s system files for any unauthorized entries. You can do this by:
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   1. On Windows: Review the hosts file (C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts) for unauthorized entries.
   2. On macOS: Inspect the hosts file in /etc/hosts for similar issues.

How to fix severe malware issues

In cases of severe malware infections, there are a few other steps that you can take to overcome the problem.

If you’ve removed malicious files, it may be worth running another scan only this time in safe mode. You can access this when you boot up your device. In safe mode you can try running another malware scan to see if anything else is detected.

If safe mode doesn’t work, one of the most effective steps is to restore your device or system back to its factory defaults. This will rid all installed files from the system and hopefully remove any malware. If that doesn’t work, a full reinstall of the operating system may be required.

Step 3 — Prevention

If you’ve successfully removed click fraud malware, the last thing you want is a return visit. To make sure this doesn’t happen, there are steps you can take to boost your defenses.

One of the main things to do is to install antivirus software that guards against malware and to keep this updated. Many tools offer an auto-update feature and it’s recommended that this is activated.

As well as updating antivirus software, you should keep your devices and apps up to date as well. It’s not uncommon for malware to find its way into systems by exploiting vulnerabilities in previous versions of applications. Again, setting apps to auto-update can guard against this.

It’s also vital to be mindful of dubious links and attachments and to train staff to be aware of the dangers too. This can ensure you stay safe against phishing attempts.

Another vital step can be scheduling regular audits of apps and extensions to ensure that nothing has been installed that could contain malware. Once a month or every two months could be enough, but if you’ve been impacted before, you should make those reviews more regular.

Get help with click fraud prevention

If you’d like professional help and support with click fraud prevention, then Hitprobe can help. We’ve developed industry-leading tools that can detect every type of click fraud. Not only that, our system can calculate the number of click fraud attacks and then push to compensate you through your ad provider to ensure you don’t pay for false clicks.

We offer a free package which allows you to test Hitprobe on your ad campaigns. Set up is super easy and you can get started right away. You can click here to learn more.

If you have any questions at all, our customer service team is on hand to help too.

Key takeaways

• Click fraud malware is a serious cyber threat that exploits devices for fraudulent ad clicks, among other things
• Infections can occur through malicious apps, phishing, or unpatched vulnerabilities.
• Detecting and removing malware requires vigilance and reliable tools.
• In order to prevent future infections, keep systems updated, practise safe browsing, and use robust security measures.
• For severe infections, try a full system reset or reinstall the operating system of the impacted device.