Trickbot malware removal guide

What is Trickbot?

Trojans and malicious malware are constantly evolving. They’re continually finding sneakier ways to infect computers. The Trickbot virus is a perfect example of that. After successfully targeting banking systems, Trickbot turned its attention to consumer and personal computers.

Once Trickbot infects a computer, it steals personal information from the machine. Then, it sends your data back to a central server. Then, it will try to infect the network that the computer is connected to. That way, it can continue spreading to every other device that connects to it.

The good news is that despite how effective it is at spreading, if you find your Mac has been infected, all hope is not lost. There is a way you can get rid of it, so keep reading and find out how you can get rid of the malware.

How did it get on my computer?

You might be thinking, “Hang on a second, I have a Mac. I thought Macs aren’t supposed to get viruses.” Well, that was true at a certain point in time. And while they are safer in many ways compared to other computers, they still have some vulnerabilities.

Malware like Trickbot can infect Macs in a couple of different ways. Using macros with Microsoft Office is a fairly common one, especially for Macs that are used in an office or work environment. More recently, though, Trickbot has been pretending to be other apps and browser plugins, like 1Password, and asking you to install it. That’s why you should always be cautious and question random pop-ups offering you free software.

How to remove Trickbot from your Mac

For people who maybe aren’t used to dealing with viruses and malware, don’t worry. The Trickbot removal is pretty straightforward. But it does depend on which browsers you have installed on your Mac. I would recommend not just checking your default browser but any that you have installed.

But the absolute first thing you should do if you think your computer is infected with Trickbot or other malware is to disconnect it from the internet. That will help prevent it from spreading to other computers on your network.

Once you have it offline, you should use this step-by-step guide for removing those malware plugins from Safari, Google Chrome, and Firefox:

Safari

Since Safari is the default browser on your Mac, follow these steps to get rid of Trickbot:

1. Click Safari > Settings > Extensions.
2. Then, select any browser extension you don’t remember installing.
3. Click Uninstall.
4. Finally, close Safari and reopen it.

Google Chrome

If you have Google Chrome installed on your Mac, follow these instructions to delete Trickbot extension:

1. In Chrome, click the three dots > More Tools > Extensions.
2. Find any suspicious extensions and click Remove.
3. Then, quit Chrome and reopen it.

Firefox

There are two areas you should check for malicious malware in Firefox. Follow these steps to help you out:

1. With Firefox open, click the three lines > Add-ons and themes > Extensions.
2. Find and select any extensions you don’t recognize. Click ... > Uninstall.
3. Now, select Plugins on the left and repeat step 2.
4. Close and reopen Firefox.

After you finish going through this process with all of your browsers, it’s a good idea to restart your Mac.

Remove other malware on your Mac

It’s always good to get into the habit of periodically scanning your Mac for malware. Even if you haven’t noticed any suspicious performance or behavior from your computer, sneaky software can install on your computer, run in the background, and leave open a backdoor for more malware to infect your device.

Thankfully, CleanMyMac X can help you scan your Mac and look for malware and any supporting files from apps that may be hiding on your hard drive.

After you download CleanMyMac X for free, open it and follow these instructions to scan for malware:

1. On the left, click on the Malware Removal section.
2. Then, click Scan. Should CleanMyMac find any threat, click Remove.

Once you scanned your Mac for malware, you can also run Optimization and Maintenance modules — those will give your Mac a performance boost.

Trickbot and other malware can be quite devious if allowed to infect a computer. And they only get worse as time progresses. The developers who create these types of Trojans are always looking for ways to target more computers for more information to steal. But if you get into the habit of doing preventative scans and can spot the warning signs when you’re installing software or opening attachments, you can prevent suspicious software from infecting your computer.