Brendan Smith

Brendan Smith has spent over 15 years knee-deep in cybersecurity, chasing down malware from the gritty reverse-engineering of old-school trojans all the way to wrangling full-blown incident responses for small-to-medium businesses that couldn’t afford a full-blown breach. Over at Gridinsoft, he’s the guy piecing together those double-checked guides on nasty stuff like AsyncRAT, a remote access tool used in malware campaigns—helping readers make sense of the threat and work through cleanup without the extra headache.
Cybersecurity Analyst
Follow:
624 Articles

WhatsApp VBS Trap Installs Remote Access Tool

A June 2026 WhatsApp campaign sends fake business documents as .vbs files.…

Brendan Smith

Pdftools.store Redirect Removal: Clean ipqcr.pdftools.store

Remove pdftools.store and ipqcr.pdftools.store redirects from Chrome or Edge. Clean extensions, search…

Brendan Smith

Prinz Eugen Ransomware: .prinzeugen File Recovery Guide

Prinz Eugen ransomware appends the .prinzeugen extension and may leave no ransom…

Brendan Smith

Pureextension.net Redirect: Remove the Pure Safety Hijacker

Pureextension.net redirect changed your browser search or new tab? Remove the Pure…

Brendan Smith

OXLOADER Malware: Fake Node.js Ads Drop CastleStealer

A fake Node.js sponsored result delivered OXLOADER and CastleStealer. Learn what to…

Brendan Smith

Paint.NET Virus Cleanup

If a Paint.NET download led to pop-ups, a lock screen, or a…

Brendan Smith

AUEPDU.exe Alert

AUEPDU.exe is usually tied to AMD telemetry, but Bitdefender or AT&T blocked…

Brendan Smith

PDFixers.exe Alert: Cleanup Guide

Saw PDFixers.exe, PDFixers App, or a pdfixers.com block? Use the triage map,…

Brendan Smith

SocGholish Malware: Fake Update Removal Guide

SocGholish, also called FakeUpdates, uses fake browser update prompts on compromised sites.…

Brendan Smith

Trojan:Win32/WinLNK.CLL!MTB

Defender detected Trojan:Win32/WinLNK.CLL!MTB in a recovery package? Check the path, scan status,…

Brendan Smith

Aviator Predictor Malware

Aviator Predictor-style apps can be used as fake crypto and crash-game tools.…

Brendan Smith

Heur.BZC.PZQ.Boxter: Bitdefender Alert or False Positive?

Heur.BZC.PZQ.Boxter is a Bitdefender heuristic label, so the file source, path, signature,…

Brendan Smith

AI Assistant

Hello! 👋 How can I help you today?