Network Security Breach Tech Support Scam

Network Security Breach Tech Support Scam is a newly found tech support scam that was created and operated by cybercriminals based in India. This scam program was designed to lock your computer’s screen and claim that your copy of Windows has an expired and you need to call Microsoft tech support for assistance. Of course, the tech support phone number is fake, and the make tech support staff with a strong Indian accent will offer you to buy a new product key or some other service to unlock your PC. Therefore, you have to remove this program if you want to use your computer again and you will know how you can do that after reading this article.

We have found that Network Security Breach Tech Support Scam can come bundled with a program called PCCleaner. PCCleaner can be featured on freeware distributing websites and modified to install this scam program. Its installer is obviously modified to include and install this additional program. The installer used must have been set to install Network Security Breach Tech Support Scam on your PC by stealth as it would be impossible to justify installing such software to the end user.

If your PC were to become infected with Network Security Breach Tech Support Scam, then it will lock its screen and prevent you from using your PC entirely. It will change the background image to a Windows 7 style image and load a dialog on top with the same background image. Research has shown that the background is not optimized for 4K resolution, so the screen will look normal on lower resolutions only. The 4K, as well as 1080p resolution background image, will be distorted while 720p will be presented correctly.

The dialog says “Windows Update cannot continue as your Software copy is Expired/Corrupt.” It also featured a line in which you can enter a product key. However, if you want to get a new product key, you are expected to call the fake 1-884-872-8686 tech support phone number. The techies on the other end of the line might ask for your credit card information and try to sell you the product key. You might be able to close the lock screen by entering either h7c9-7c67-jb or g6r-qrp6-h2 or yt-mq-6w codes in the Product Key line, but it might not work for some versions of this program as there are at least two. Alternatively, you can press CTRL+SHIFT+S to kill this program’s main process. Once you have done that, you can proceed to delete this scam program.

As you can see, Network Security Breach Tech Support Scam is one malicious application designed to help cybercriminals trick people into thinking that their computers have expired versions of Windows and might offer them to buy fake product keys. However, you can simply remove this scam program without having to comply with the cybercriminals’ demands. See the instructions for more information.

Removal Guide

1. To kill the lockscreen, press CTRL+SHIFT+S or enter h7c9-7c67-jb or g6r-qrp6-h2 or yt-mq-6w in the product key line and press the arrow button.
2. Press Windows+E keys.
3. Type %PROGRAMFILES% and/or %PROGRAMFILES(x86)% in the address box.
4. Hit Enter.
5. Find PC Cleaner Inc, right-click it and click Delete.
6. Then, type %Windir% in the address box and hit Enter.
7. Find microsoft.exe, right-click it and click Delete.
8. Close the File Explorer.
9. Press Windows+R keys.
10. Type regedit in the dialog and click OK.
11. Go to HKLM\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\Windows NT\CurrentVersion\Winlogon
12. Right-click Shell and click Modify.
13. Change the value data from microsoft.exe to explorer.exe and click OK.
14. Then, go to HKLM\SYSTEM\ControlSet001\Control\SafeBoot
15. Right-click AlternativeShell and click Modify.
16. Change the value data from microsft.exe to cmd.exe and click OK.
17. Go to HKLM\SYSTEM\ControlSet002\Control\SafeBoot
18. Right-click AlternativeShell and click Modify.
19. Change the value data from microsft.exe to cmd.exe and click OK.
20. Finally, go to HKLM\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\SafeBoot
21. Right-click AlternativeShell and click Modify.
22. Change the value data from microsft.exe to cmd.exe and click OK.
23. Close the Registry Editor.
24. Empty the Recycle Bin.