Convertad

Overview

Adware:Win32/Convertad is a persistent and aggressive adware network designed to silently install multiple Potentially Unwanted Programs (PUPs), inject intrusive advertisements into web pages, and harvest user search telemetry for monetization.

What is Convertad?
To the average user, a Convertad infection results in a severely degraded browsing experience. The browser homepage is altered, pop-ups appear constantly, and hyperlinked ads are injected directly into the text of legitimate websites. For security analysts, Convertad is a classic adware framework that leverages deceptive installation tactics and aggressive persistence mechanisms to ensure continued revenue generation for the affiliate network.

Infection Vectors & Threat Hunting
Convertad is primarily distributed via deceptive software bundlers (Pay-Per-Install networks) or fake 'update' alerts on untrusted download sites. Upon execution, the adware heavily modifies browser configurations. It drops malicious extensions across Chrome, Edge, and Firefox. It establishes persistence by modifying the Windows Registry (`HKCU\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVersion\Run`) and frequently employs scheduled tasks to reinstall any components the user attempts to remove. Convertad constantly communicates with its C2 infrastructure to download updated lists of ads to inject and to exfiltrate the user's browsing history.

Forensic Analysis & Impact
The impact is a degraded user experience, wasted system resources, and a total loss of browsing privacy. Incident responders will observe anomalous HTTP/HTTPS traffic to known ad-tracking networks. EDR logs will show the initial installer attempting to silently spawn child processes to install the secondary toolbars and extensions. The `%ProgramFiles%` directory will contain new, unrequested software folders.

MITRE ATT&CK Techniques

Observed techniques used by this family, mapped to the MITRE ATT&CK framework:

Tactical Mitigations

Based on the techniques used by this family, consider the following defensive strategies:

• T1105: Implement network intrusion detection systems (NIDS) and host-based firewalls to block unauthorized inbound or outbound file transfers.

Generated Detections (Boilerplate)

These YARA and Sigma rules are auto-generated based on the family name and aliases. They must be heavily tuned before deployment in a production environment.

YARA Rule

rule MALWARE_WIN_CONVERTAD {
    meta:
        description = "Detects Convertad (advanced_threat)"
        author = "SystemHelpdesk Boilerplate Generator"
        date = "2026-07-06"
    strings:
        $s1 = "convertad" ascii wide nocase
    condition:
        uint16(0) == 0x5a4d and any of them
}

Sigma Rule

title: Suspicious Convertad Activity
id: 2c579495553ea3cbe25bcf4e28286dd2
status: experimental
description: Detects generic indicators of the convertad malware family.
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: windows
detection:
    selection:
        Image|endswith:
            - '\cmd.exe'
            - '\powershell.exe'
        CommandLine|contains:
            - "*convertad*"
    condition: selection
level: medium

Containment & Response Steps

Ordered checklist for responders. Adapt to your environment and engage professional support for active incidents.

1. Quarantine the endpoint to halt the active exfiltration of browsing telemetry and the downloading of further adware modules.
2. Deploy an enterprise adware removal tool (e.g., AdwCleaner) to locate and strip the deeply embedded registry hooks and watchdog scheduled tasks.
3. Audit Windows Group Policies to remove any forced extension installation policies created by the adware.
4. Force a complete reset of all installed web browsers to factory defaults to eradicate the rogue extensions and restore legitimate search engines.

What to Avoid

Common mistakes during response to this family that can destroy evidence, spread the infection, or worsen recovery.

1. Do not rely solely on the browser's 'remove extension' button; Convertad frequently uses scheduled tasks to immediately reinstall itself.
2. Avoid ignoring the infection; adware tracking data is highly detailed and may expose corporate activities or access to internal portals.

References & External Analysis

• Search "convertad" on VirusTotal (External Analysis)

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Families (Category: advanced_threat)

Explore other malware families in the same category:

• Fakesysdef
• Wmfap
• Garrun
• Cloudwrapper
• Updatestar

Machine-readable

Get this profile as JSON: https://jordanricky1604-ship-it.github.io/malware-families-catalog/api/convertad.json

Ecosystem & Interactive Environments

This profile is part of the Malware Families Catalog, a public dataset of 2,899 malware families. The catalog is also published across our ecosystem: Hugging Face, Kaggle, Zenodo, Replit, StackBlitz, CodeSandbox, and CodePen.