There’s no denying that malicious entities are a big problem online. They’re everywhere, from social networking sites to the dark web. And they’re also present on torrenting networks. So it’s clear that cyber threats are here to stay. But what about platforms like Soap2Day that are operating in a grey area?
While we can’t prevent hackers and other criminals from releasing new strains of malware and ransomware, we can still take steps to protect ourselves from them. One way is to educate ourselves about these dangerous entities.
In this article, we’ll be discussing one well-known online threat that’s surrounded by a mysterious aura: the Soap2day virus.
What is Soap2Day?
Soap2day is a website that’s notorious for being used to watch movies and TV shows illegally for free.
Before we go any further, it’s important to point out that Soap2day itself is not a virus. However, that doesn’t mean that it’s safe either. The site can cause serious harm to your PC due to the PuPs that they’re pushing to its users.
Keep reading to find out more about the Soap2day virus.
The brief malware-riddled history of Soap2Day
Soap2day was released in 2018 and runs as a media streaming platform that allows users to stream movies and TV series for free. However, this activity on the site is illegal (or classified as a gray-area software in some territories) and it’s known to inject its content with malicious advertisem*nts that will steer you towards stretchy pages that are looking to infect you with viruses, browser hijackers and adware.
If you choose to watch movies on this site, you will expose yourself and your internet footprint besides putting yourself at risk of different various threats. In Europe and the US with clear legislation on digital copyright infringement, the use of Soap2day is illegal and is considered a serious crime.
If you’re a fan of this platform, you should at least get a VPN service that will keep your online activities private. But then there’s still the matter of putting your Windows security at risk.
The most recent adware scheme from Soap2Day
The Soap2Day Reddit has been discussing a potentially unwanted program that distributes another unwanted tool – a browser hijacker. People have been leaving reviews on various sites about this illegal website, and it’s been linked to infection to one of the peskiest malware currently running amok on the web – SearchLee, Search Barron, and SearchMarquis.
PUBs of this nature are known for their ability to modify browser settings and redirect users to a fake search engine every time they open their browsers. And oftentimes, they do it without you realizing that this is actually happening in the background.
And keep in mind that this is just the latest PUP scheme for Mac that was pushed by the advertising partners of Soap2Day.
Just take a look at the TrustPilot page of Soap2day and you’ll discover hundreds of stories of people getting infected after utilizing this ‘free’ streaming platform.
Why you Should stay away from Soap2day
It’s not hard to see the appeal of Soap2day – it offers free movies, series, and TV shows. It has racked up millions of visitors from across the globe who visit the site daily. The site offers its content in HD video quality. Even if using Soap2day is illegal and users may be fined up to $100 000 (in some territories), many users are having a hard time going without it.
Soap2day is classified as a potentially unwanted program (PUP) by every major security agency out there.
This means the platform is known to push malware that can affect a user’s overall browsing experience.
For example, it can modify a browser’s settings or redirect users to phishing websites with the sole purpose of extracting personal information.
Note: In addition to this, PUBs can collect information related to a user’s browsing behavior. Most commonly, the purpose of these PUPs is to monitor your search engine patterns and collect your IP address, the location where you’re accessing the website, and other similar data that will be used later in a phishing scheme.
All this information may be used to display customized ads and pop-ups or shared with third parties.
This wouldn’t be bad if most of the 3-rd parties involved in this scheme are extremely shady and will try to push malware and adware to the incoming traffic.
Therefore, if you find yourself on Soap2day, don’t click on any ads to protect your device.
And remember: Visiting illegal streaming websites is against the law and you may face legal issues down the line. European countries are particularly good at enforcing these laws.
What to do if you got infected from Soap2Day
If you’re PC or Mac is already showing signs of an infection, the first thing you should do is perform a system-wide scan on all your system’s files and measure the damage done.
Keep in mind that these infections usually happen indirectly through PuPs and browser hijackers, so your goal should be to remove the underlying sources of infection.
Our recommendation is to perform a deep scan with Malwarebytes – this works on both Windows and Mac.
If you’re looking for specific instructions on how to do this, follow the steps outlined in this article.
Once you performed the Malwarebytes scan and removed the underlying infections, the next step is to uninstall any suspicious applications that might be indirectly pushing infected elements.
You can do this conventionally via the Programs and Features menu (on Windows) or by dragging the unsolicited apps to the trash icon on Mac.
Next, go through the hassle of clearing all your browser cache:
- On Windows, use this guide to clear the browser cache on every popular Windows browser.
- On Mac, use this guide to clear the cache and search history.
Finally, you need to ensure that there are no root files from a browser hijacker that will end up re-enforcing the infection in the future. To do this, we recommend using AdwCleaner to deploy a deep scan.
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