CCleaner Hacked: What it means to you and what to do about it.

CCleaner is a well-known, trusted, system cleaning tool. It has been around for about 13 years, and in all that time has been trusted to work as advertised and considered an excellent utility. As in all good things there comes a day when something goes wrong. In this particular case, it seems that two versions of the utility have been compromised.  The details, while technically interesting, are not important to the end user (i.e. You).

If you want to read about the details of the hack follow this link: http://bit.ly/CCleanerAGL

Don’t Panic: the risk has been dealt with!

The malware that was included in the hacked software connected to “Command & Control” servers on the internet to receive instructions.  Those servers are now under the control of law enforcement agencies and no longer pose a threat. In other words, even if you are infected there is nothing to worry about!

Who was infected?

According to Piriform, just over two million users downloaded the affected software. There are two versions that are infected:

• CCleaner version 5.33.6162 for 32-bit windows
• CCleaner Cloud version 1.07.3191 (this is a business version used to manage multiple computers.)

So, unless you have a 32-bit version of Microsoft Windows, or are a business user running CCleaner Cloud, and you had updated during the time that the hacked version was available, you were never at risk. We are lucky in that CCleaner does not automatically update itself; otherwise, the infection could have been much more widespread.

To find out which version of CCleaner you just have to open the application and look at the top left corner and you will see, under the CCleaner name, the software version. To the right of the CCleaner name, you will see which version of windows you have. See the yellow highlights in the image below.

How Do I Clean Up CCleaner

The cleanup for this small mess is actually very simple: just update the software from here: http://bit.ly/CCleanerUpdateAGL
This is a case where simply updating to the current version will resolve your infection. After you do the update make the time to run a full virus scan of your pc using your Anti-Virus software.

And in The End:
Overall this was a major hack that was caught early, responsibly disclosed, quickly fixed and well managed. We can only hope that all hacks are as well managed.
It is clear that no one wants to be hacked, or have viruses on one’s computers, but in our day and age it is only through vigilance and correct, learned behaviors that we can protect ourselves. Remember to always:

• Keep your antivirus up to date.
• Protect your passwords.
• Don’t click on advertising that offers “miracles”.
• No one gives you something for nothing!!!
• Be careful of free software. Always choose the “custom” option when installing and see what other stuff gets installed with the free software.
• If you get infected: GET HELP. Unless you are well practiced in cleaning up infections you will probably make things worse and spend more money getting someone to undo the damage.
• When some company offers you a subscription for remote help, and the price is “Great!”, and you never heard of them: STAY AWAY. They might very well be the ones that repeatedly infect you.

1 Malware is a generic term for any type of software that in some way compromises the integrity of your computer. For all intents and purposes, this is the same as the word “virus”. For more information look here: http://bit.ly/MalwareAGL
2 The quickest way to find out is to open CCleaner and look at the top left corner (see screenshot above). If you would rather not do that, then here are 3 links with instructions to help you determine which version of Windows you have. They offer the same result but are presented differently. If one is difficult to follow try one of the others.
http://bit.ly/32or64-1AGL
http://bit.ly/32or65-2AGL
http://bit.ly/32or64-3AGL