Itranslator

Overview

Adware/PUP:Win32/Itranslator is a Potentially Unwanted Program (PUP) categorized as an Adware or Browser Modifier. It is ostensibly marketed as a helpful browser extension or desktop utility for translating web pages. However, its true purpose is aggressive monetization: it hijacks browser settings, injects unremovable advertisements, redirects search traffic, and tracks browsing habits without informed consent.

Understanding Itranslator
To an end-user, Itranslator severely degrades the web browsing experience, flooding pages with pop-ups and slowing down the browser. For a security operations center (SOC), it is a 'nuisance' threat that indicates poor endpoint hygiene and risky user behavior. While not typically destructive, the infrastructure used to deliver adware is frequently repurposed to deliver more severe malware (malvertising).

Execution and Hijacking Mechanics
Itranslator is almost exclusively distributed via 'bundling'—it is hidden within the installers of other free software downloaded from unverified third-party portals (`T1189`). During installation, if the user clicks 'Express Install', the PUP is silently installed. Once active, it forcefully modifies browser settings (Chrome, Edge, Firefox), installing unauthorized extensions (`T1176`) and changing the default search engine (`T1562.001`). It establishes persistence via Scheduled Tasks or Registry Run keys to ensure the malicious extensions are re-installed if the user attempts to remove them.

Indicators of Compromise & Impact
The impact is a degraded user experience, potential exposure to malvertising, and privacy violations (tracking). Host-based IoCs include the presence of unwanted extensions in the browser's add-on manager, unexpected modifications to the `Start Page` registry keys, and anomalous Scheduled Tasks running browser executables with hidden command-line arguments. Network IoCs involve constant HTTP/HTTPS traffic to known adware tracking networks and affiliate marketing domains.

MITRE ATT&CK Techniques

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

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

Sigma Rule

title: Suspicious Itranslator Activity
id: c7ca0b33571ee3cdd7358d101b0e9e43
status: experimental
description: Detects generic indicators of the itranslator malware family.
logsource:
    category: process_creation
    product: windows
detection:
    selection:
        Image|endswith:
            - '\cmd.exe'
            - '\powershell.exe'
        CommandLine|contains:
            - "*itranslator*"
    condition: selection
level: medium

Containment & Response Steps

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

1. Use the Windows 'Programs and Features' control panel to uninstall the Itranslator application and any related unknown software.
2. Perform a full reset of all installed web browsers to clear out the hijacked homepages, search engines, and malicious extensions.
3. Audit the Windows Task Scheduler and remove any persistent tasks created by the adware to reinstall itself.
4. Run a scan with a reputable enterprise-grade PUP/Adware removal tool to ensure all registry hooks are cleaned.

What to Avoid

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

1. Do not allow users to download software from third-party freeware portals; enforce application whitelisting.
2. Avoid simply changing the homepage back manually; you must remove the underlying extension and persistence mechanisms.

References & External Analysis

• Search "itranslator" on VirusTotal (External Analysis)

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Families (Category: advanced_threat)

Explore other malware families in the same category:

• Openinstall
• Peed
• Predator
• Winspy
• Hotdownloads

Machine-readable

Get this profile as JSON: https://jordan123234-malware-families-explorer.static.hf.space/api/itranslator.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.