How to remove Mispadu from the operating system

What kind of malware is Mispadu?

Mispadu (also known as URSA) is the name of a banking Trojan. Cyber criminals behind this software target people living in Brazil, Spain and Mexico.

They seek to steal credentials, credit card and banking data. Research shows that this malware is distributed through spam campaigns and malicious advertisements. People with computers infected with Mispadu are likely to experience monetary loss and online privacy issues. This banking Trojan should be removed from the system immediately.

More about Mispadu

The malware can be used to simulate keyboard, mouse actions, take screenshots, record keystrokes, and collect information such as operating system versions, computer names, list of installed computer security programs and banking apps that are commonly used in Latin America.

Furthermore, Mispadu can update itself through a file that it downloads and executes via Visual Basic Script (VBS). A keystroke logging feature allows it to record keys pressed on the keyboard. Therefore, it can be used to record login usernames, passwords, and other sensitive information.

The screenshots might also contain personal details. Mispadu is installed with browser apps that it uses to steal credentials saved on browsers such as Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Internet Explorer, and email clients such as Mozilla Thunderbird, Microsoft Outlook, Windows Live Mail, and others.

One of the apps (a malicious Google Chrome extension) is capable of stealing credit card data by recording the contents of various input fields completed by victims on various websites, mainly those relating to online banking.

This app targets the Boleto payment system and is capable of replacing ID numbers with one associated with a bank account used to receive funds for an attacker. Therefore, a legitimate web page can be misused to generate a payment barcode using the attacker’s account number rather than a legitimate one.

Furthermore, the Mispadu banking Trojan can be used to replace data saved on the clipboard with attacker's data. In this way, cyber criminals can replace a saved cryptocurrency wallet address with their own, and thus victims might inadvertently make payments to the wallet address of an attacker.

Similar malware

Mispadu is similar to another banking Trojan called Casbaneiro. More examples of these Trojans include Bolik and Tinynuke. 

Despite their differences, most of these malicious programs are used to steal credit card data and other sensitive details relating to online banking. Cyber criminals use banking malware to steal funds from victims by misusing stolen details, making fraudulent transactions, and so on. If your computer is infected with Mispadu or other malicious software, remove it immediately.

How did Mispadu infiltrate my computer?

Cyber criminals proliferate Mispadu through spam campaigns and malicious online advertisements. They send emails containing website links. They present these emails as legitimate, official, and attempt to trick recipients into opening the link, which then downloads a malicious file.

If opened/executed, the file installs Mispadu. Cyber criminals also distribute malware through malicious attachments. Rather than including a link, they attach a file which, if opened, leads to installation of malware. Additionally, research shows that Mispadu is distributed through malicious ads, fake coupons, and discounts for McDonald's on Facebook.

If clicked, these ads lead to dubious websites that contain download buttons, which download a malicious archive file (ZIP) containing an MSI installer. If executed, the installer begins the installation process of the Mispadu banking Trojan.

How to avoid installation of malware

Do not trust intrusive ads, especially if they are displayed on dubious web pages (or lead to web pages of this kind). They often trick people into download/installation of malware. Website links and attachments that are included in irrelevant emails should not be opened, especially if the messages are received from unknown, suspicious addresses.

Software should not be downloaded through third party downloaders, unofficial websites, Peer-to-Peer networks such as torrent clients, eMule, or other such tools/sources. Download only from official web pages and via direct links. Update installed software using implemented functions or tools provided by official software developers, and not third party, fake updaters.

The same applies to activation of paid software. Software 'cracking' tools are illegal and often cause computer infections.

Protect systems from malware attacks by regularly scanning them with a reputable anti-spyware or antivirus suite, and ensure that it is up-to-date. If you believe that your computer is already infected, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate infiltrated malware.

Mispadu trojan hiding under the name of "Windows installer" in Windows Task Manager:

Screenshots of spam emails used to spread Mispadu trojan:

Example 1:

Text presented within:

Subject: Importante anuncio del cliente - BBVA BANCOMER

Estado de cuenta.

BBVA Bancomer
Desgarda tu estado de cuenta
Adjunto te enviamos su factura para el periodo de Agosto-2019, evitar el bloqueo de cuenta, descargar su factura.

Descargar

Encuenta una sucursal
Necesitas Ayuda?
Sguenos en:

Example 2:

Text presented within:

Subject: Devolução de mercadorias não entregues. Ausencia de Destinatário!

Correios Brasil AGORA NA WEB
Correios
Atenção, foram realizadas 3 tentativas de entrega no seu endereço
Por motivo de ausência de destinatário sua encomenda
Retornou na data ( 28/08/2019 as 10:32:35 ) para nosso centro de distribuição de encomendas e cartas.
OCORRENCIAS ID OBJETO: -
Segue URL de Formulário para Retirada :
hxxp://correios.com.br/retirada

INFORMAÇÕES
horário não indica quando a situação ocorreu, mas sim quando os dados foram recebidos pelo sistema.
Tentativa de entrega sem sucesso, segue comunicado de postagem aguardando retirada no local.

Política de Privacidade e notas legais - © Copyright 2019 Correios - Todos os direitos reservados.

Update September 16, 2020 - Mispadu trojan's area of interest has expanded to include Argentina, Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Costa Rica, Ecuador, Italy, Paraguay, Peru and Portugal.

It is noteworthy that in Portugal this malware has been proliferated under the guise of content related to four legitimate organizations: Vodafone and MEO (Serviços de Comunicações e Multimédia) - telecommunication service providers, Polícia Judicíaria - one of Portugal's key criminal investigation police agencies, and EDP (Energias de Portugal) - electric utilities company.

Update February 2, 2024 - The perpetrators behind the Mispadu banking malware have seized the opportunity to exploit an already patched Windows SmartScreen security bypass flaw to compromise users. In the latest infection chain, they utilized deceitful internet shortcut files concealed within fake ZIP archive files, leveraging CVE-2023-36025, a high-severity bypass flaw addressed by Microsoft in November 2023.

At the core of this exploit is the crafting of an internet shortcut file (.URL) or a hyperlink that directs to malicious files, effectively circumventing SmartScreen's warnings.

How to remove malware manually?

Most trojan infections can be removed by running a full system scan with Combo Cleaner. The full manual procedure below is for cases where automatic removal failed, where you want to verify a scan caught everything, or where the threat has multiple persistence points.

Tools you'll need

Combo Cleaner Antivirus 7-days free trial

Recommended primary scanner. VB100 certified. The 7-day free trial is available.

Microsoft Defender Offline Free · built-in

Built into Windows. Boots to a clean environment to catch rootkits.

Process Explorer Free

From Microsoft Sysinternals. Better than Task Manager - shows full paths and signatures.

Autoruns Free

From Microsoft Sysinternals. Lists every place malware can persist on your system.

Microsoft Safety Scanner (MSERT) Free

Official Microsoft on-demand scanner. Always-current signatures - expires every 10 days.

Phase 1~ 5 min

Contain - limit the damage

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1

Disconnect from the network

30 secNo tool needed

Unplug your Ethernet cable and turn off Wi-Fi. If you're on a laptop, the airplane-mode key works fastest.

Why this matters

Many trojans exfiltrate data - saved browser passwords, banking sessions, screenshots - and accept remote commands. Cutting the network stops both immediately. Keep it disconnected until Phase 4.

2

Boot into Safe Mode with Networking

3 min

Safe Mode loads a minimal set of drivers and stops most malware from auto-running. "With Networking" lets you download tools - re-enable Wi-Fi only after you've booted in.

Windows 11

Open Settings → System → Recovery. Click Restart now next to Advanced startup.

Your computer will restart into the "Choose an option" menu. Click Troubleshoot → Advanced options → Startup Settings → Restart. After the second reboot, press 5 or F5.

Windows 10

Click the Windows logo, hold Shift, click the Power icon and choose Restart. In the Choose an option screen, click Troubleshoot → Advanced options → Startup Settings → Restart. Press F5.

Windows 8

Go to the Start Screen, type Advanced, select Settings → Advanced startup options → Restart now → Troubleshoot → Advanced options → Startup settings → Restart → F5.

Note: Windows 8 reached end-of-life in January 2023 - running on it puts you at much higher risk of reinfection.

Windows 7

Click Start → Shut Down → Restart → OK. As the system boots, press F8 repeatedly until the Windows Advanced Options menu appears, then choose Safe Mode with Networking.

Note: Windows 7 reached end-of-life in January 2020 - running on it puts you at much higher risk of reinfection.

Phase 2~ 15 min

Identify - find what's hiding

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3

Inspect running processes with Process Explorer

Tool: Process Explorer5 min

Download Process Explorer from Microsoft Sysinternals. Run it as Administrator. Click Options → Verify Image Signatures and View → Lower Pane View → DLLs.

Sort by "Verified Signer." Anything unsigned running from %AppData%, %LocalAppData%, %Temp%, or %ProgramData% is suspicious. Right-click → Properties to see the full image path. Right-click → "Search Online" to look up unfamiliar process names.

Why not just Task Manager

Task Manager hides full file paths, doesn't show digital signatures, and groups processes in ways that make malware easy to miss. Process Explorer is the same tool Microsoft engineers use.

4

Map every persistence point with Autoruns

Tool: Autoruns 14.x10 min

Download Autoruns. Right-click Autoruns.exe and choose Run as administrator - without elevation, Autoruns can't inspect protected registry hives.

In the menu, open Options → Hide Microsoft Entries and Options → Hide Empty Locations, then click Refresh.

Modern trojans don't just live in startup. Walk through these tabs and look for unsigned or unfamiliar entries:

• Logon - classic Run/RunOnce keys
• Scheduled Tasks - frequent hiding spot, especially tasks with PowerShell, MSHTA, or rundll32 actions
• Services - unsigned services in non-Microsoft folders
• WMI - Event Subscriptions are a stealthy persistence mechanism (MITRE T1546.003)
• Image Hijacks - Image File Execution Options "Debugger" abuse
• AppInit - DLLs loaded into every GUI process
• Browser plug-ins - unsigned add-ons across all installed browsers

Pro tip

Right-click any suspicious entry → "Jump to Image" to see the actual file. Right-click → "Search Online" opens VirusTotal for the file hash. Don't delete yet - just write down the file paths and entry names. We'll remove them after the scans.

5

Check the hosts file and DNS settings

3 minBuilt into Windows

Trojans often redirect bank, antivirus, and update domains to attacker-controlled servers by editing the hosts file or DNS settings.

Hosts file: Open Notepad as Administrator and open C:\Windows\System32\drivers\etc\hosts. Legitimate entries are commented with #. Any uncommented IP-to-domain mapping is suspicious - especially redirects for microsoft.com, windowsupdate, or your bank.

DNS settings: Open Command Prompt as Administrator and run ipconfig /all. Confirm your DNS servers point to your ISP, your router, or a known public resolver (Cloudflare 1.1.1.1, Google 8.8.8.8). Then open Settings → Network & internet → [your adapter] → DNS server assignment and verify both DNS and DNS over HTTPS (DoH) settings haven't been hijacked.

Why this matters

A clean PC with hijacked DNS is still a compromised PC. You'll think you're at chase.com and you'll be at the attacker's clone.

Phase 3~ 60-90 min

Remove - three scans, one cleanup

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No single antivirus catches everything. The order below is intentional: offline scan first (catches rootkits before Windows fully loads), then on-demand scanners on the running system, then manual cleanup of anything they missed.

6

Run Microsoft Defender Offline

Tool: Built into Windows15 min

Reboot to normal Windows. Open Windows Security → Virus & threat protection → Scan options. Select Microsoft Defender Antivirus (offline scan) and click Scan now. Your computer will restart into a stripped-down environment and scan before the full operating system loads.

Why this comes first

Rootkits and bootkits hide from any scanner running on the same Windows session that's already infected. A pre-boot offline scan sees the disk before the malware can hide itself.

Recommended antivirus

Combo Cleaner

VB100 certified. Includes anti-trojan, registry/persistence scanning, anti-spyware in one pass. The 7-day free trial is available.

Download Combo Cleaner

7

Run Combo Cleaner full system scan

Tool: Combo Cleaner20-40 min

Install Combo Cleaner and run a full system scan (not the quick scan). Let it complete fully, review the detected threats, and apply the recommended actions. Combo Cleaner will quarantine known trojans and registry persistence.

8

Run Microsoft Safety Scanner as a second-opinion scan

Tool: Microsoft Safety Scanner15 min

Download Microsoft Safety Scanner (MSERT.exe), Microsoft's free on-demand tool. The binary expires every 10 days, which means every download has the latest signatures. Run a full scan after Combo Cleaner to catch anything one engine alone might miss.

Why a second scan

Different scanning engines catch different threats. Running an additional Microsoft scan after Combo Cleaner is the single most underused verification step in malware removal.

9

Manually remove anything still listed in Autoruns

Tool: Autoruns10 min

Reopen Autoruns. Anything you flagged in Step 4 that's still present hasn't been caught by the automated scans. For each remaining suspicious entry: right-click → Delete in Autoruns (this removes the persistence registration), then navigate to the file path and delete the actual file. Empty the Recycle Bin.

Important

Some malware files reappear after deletion because something else on the system recreates them. If you delete a file and it returns within minutes, you have a remaining persistence point that Autoruns didn't show - usually a service or scheduled task running under SYSTEM. Re-run the scans from Steps 6-8 or proceed to a clean install (see end of guide).

Phase 4~ 15 min

Recover - restore browsers and security

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10

Reset browsers and clear notification permissions

5 min

Trojans and adware frequently hijack browsers - change the default search engine, install rogue extensions, or grant themselves notification permissions to keep displaying scam pop-ups even after the malware is gone.

• Chrome: visit chrome://settings/reset and click "Restore settings to their original defaults." Then visit chrome://settings/content/notifications and remove any unfamiliar sites.
• Edge: visit edge://settings/reset. Then check edge://settings/content/notifications.
• Firefox: open about:support and click Refresh Firefox (Firefox uses "Refresh," not "Reset"). Then check Settings → Privacy & Security → Permissions → Notifications.

Review installed extensions in each browser and remove anything you don't recognize, especially extensions you didn't install yourself.

11

Re-enable Defender, Tamper Protection, and update everything

10 min

Many trojans disable security software. Open Windows Security → Virus & threat protection → Manage settings and confirm Real-time protection, Cloud-delivered protection, and Tamper Protection are all turned on. Tamper Protection prevents malware from disabling Defender silently.

Then run Windows Update (Settings → Windows Update → Check for updates) and update your browsers and applications. The infection vector that let the trojan in originally usually involves outdated software.

Phase 5~ 15 min + 7 days

Verify & secure

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12

Change passwords from a clean device

20 min⚠ Critical

If the trojan was an info-stealer (Lumma, RedLine, Vidar, and similar are extremely common), assume every password saved in your browser is compromised. Change them from a different, known-clean device - your phone is fine if it's not infected.

Recommended order:

1. Primary email first - it's the recovery hub for everything else
2. Banking and financial accounts
3. Password manager master password (if you use one)
4. Social media, shopping, and remaining accounts

Where available, enable phishing-resistant multi-factor authentication (passkeys / FIDO2 hardware keys / authenticator apps) - SMS-based MFA is bypassable by sophisticated attackers.

13

Verify the clean and monitor for 7 days

5 min + 1 week monitoring

Reconnect to the network and run one final full scan with Combo Cleaner. Open Task Manager (Ctrl + Shift + Esc) and switch to the Startup apps tab - confirm nothing suspicious has reappeared.

Over the next 7 days, watch for symptom recurrence: unexpected high CPU usage, unknown processes returning, browser redirects, or pop-ups. If anything returns, you missed a persistence point and the procedure needs to be repeated - or you may have a deeper compromise that requires a clean install.

When to clean install Windows instead

Manual removal isn't always the right answer. Reinstalling Windows from scratch is the only way to be 100% certain when:

• The malware reappears after every removal attempt
• A bootkit or UEFI rootkit was detected (this class of threat sits below the operating system and survives a normal Windows reinstall)
• A confirmed credential-theft trojan ran with administrator privileges (Lumma, RedLine, Vidar) - the system likely has multiple unknown payloads
• The PC is used for online banking, business email, or anything where partial doubt isn't acceptable

A clean install is a 30-60 minute process: Windows 11 reinstall via Settings → System → Recovery → Reset this PC → Remove everything → Cloud download. Back up documents to external storage first, scan the backup with Combo Cleaner before restoring it, and reinstall applications fresh - never restore them from a backup of the infected system.

Important: Manual removal requires advanced computer skills. If you're not confident identifying system files from malicious files, run an automated scan with Combo Cleaner and Windows Defender and stop there - that path catches the vast majority of consumer trojans without the risk of breaking Windows by deleting the wrong file.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

My computer is infected with Mispadu malware, should I format my storage device to get rid of it?

Users should first try using reputable antivirus software to remove the Mispadu malware before resorting to formatting. Formatting will erase all data on the storage device.

What are the biggest issues that malware can cause?

Malware can cause data loss, financial damage, identity theft, system instability, and unauthorized access to sensitive information.

What is the purpose of Mispadu malware?

The purpose of the Mispadu malware includes simulating keyboard and mouse actions, capturing screenshots, recording keystrokes, collecting system information, updating itself, stealing credentials from browsers and email clients, specifically targeting online banking systems (such as Boleto), and manipulating clipboard data to replace cryptocurrency wallet addresses for fraudulent transactions.

How did Mispadu infiltrate my computer?

Users can infect computers by falling victim to Mispadu through spam emails containing deceptive website links or malicious attachments. Cybercriminals also use malicious online ads, fake coupons, and Facebook discounts for McDonald's to lure users into clicking on dubious websites with download buttons. These sites prompt the download of a malicious archive file (ZIP) containing an MSI installer. If users execute the installer, it initiates the installation process of the Mispadu banking Trojan.

Will Combo Cleaner protect me from malware?

Combo Cleaner is equipped to detect and eliminate almost all well-known malware infections. It is crucial to be aware that advanced malware tends to hide extensively within the system. Hence, performing a thorough system scan is imperative.