Browser hijacking is a form of unwanted software that modifies a web browser's settings without a user's permission, to inject unwanted advertising into the user's browser. A browser hijacker may replace the existing home page, error page, or search engine with its own.[1] These are generally used to force hits to a particular website, increasing its advertising revenue.
Some browser hijackers also contain spyware, for example, some install a software keylogger to gather information such as banking and e-mail authentication details. Some browser hijackers can also damage the registry on Windows systems, often permanently.
While some browser hijacking can be easily reversed, other instances may be difficult to reverse. Various software packages exist to prevent such modification.
Many browser hijacking programs are included in software bundles that the user did not choose and are included as "offers" in the installer for another program, often included with no uninstall instructions, or documentation on what they do, and are presented in a way that is designed to be confusing for the average user, to trick them into installing unwanted extra software.[2][3][4][5]
There are several methods that browser hijackers use to gain entry to an operating system. Email attachments and files downloaded through suspicious websites and torrents are common tactics that browser hijackers use. [citation needed]
^"Browser Hijacking Fix & Browser Hijacking Removal". Microsoft. Archived from the original on 7 February 2015. Retrieved 23 October 2012.
^"Malwarebytes Potentially Unwanted Program Criteria". Malwarebytes. Archived from the original on 2016-04-09. Retrieved 2015-08-07.
^"Rating the best anti-malware solutions". Arstechnica. 2009-12-15. Archived from the original on 2014-02-02. Retrieved 28 January 2014.
^"Threat Encyclopedia – Generic Grayware". Trend Micro. Archived from the original on 14 July 2014. Retrieved 27 November 2012.
^"PUP Criteria". Malwarebytes. Archived from the original on 2016-04-09. Retrieved 2019-01-06.
Browserhijacking is a form of unwanted software that modifies a web browser's settings without a user's permission, to inject unwanted advertising into...
A Browser Helper Object (BHO) is a DLL module designed as a plugin for the Microsoft Internet Explorer web browser to provide added functionality. BHOs...
brand Browserhijacking Clickjacking (including likejacking and cursorjacking), a phenomenon of hijacking "clicks" in a website context DLL hijacking DNS...
In computer science, session hijacking, sometimes also known as cookie hijacking, is the exploitation of a valid computer session—sometimes also called...
SAY Media and Lavasoft's Ad-Aware Web Companion. Many companies use browserhijacking to modify a user's home page and search page, to force Internet hits...
to a computer. Browserhijacking can cause malware to be installed on a computer. On February 16, 2012, Trend Micro released the HijackThis source code...
adware. This browserhijacker has also been verified as being notoriously difficult to remove. It still takes over a user's internet browser and search...
Linux, macOS, iOS, and also for Android, where it is the default browser. The browser is also the main component of ChromeOS, where it serves as the platform...
DNS hijacking for their own purposes, such as displaying advertisements or collecting statistics. Dutch ISPs XS4ALL and Ziggo use DNS hijacking by court...
Internet cookies, browser cookies, or simply cookies) are small blocks of data created by a web server while a user is browsing a website and placed...
unwanted programs like the Ask Toolbar and OpenCandy which installed the browser-hijacking malware Conduit. In July 2014, the Internet Storm Center reported...
predecessor of VMP is the browser plug-in MetaStream from the once acquired company MetaCreations. Viewpoint Media Player is a web browser plug-in that enables...
China and India were identified as emerging contributors. Botnet Browserhijacking Comparison of antivirus software Computer security Cryptojacking Cryptovirology...
news outlets as malware and are difficult to remove. It has both browserhijacking and rootkit capabilities. Conduit began to shift away from this part...
BGP hijacking (sometimes referred to as prefix hijacking, route hijacking or IP hijacking) is the illegitimate takeover of groups of IP addresses by corrupting...
Fireball (search engine), a web search engine Fireball (software), a browser-hijacking malware Fireball Cinnamon Whisky, a cinnamon flavoured Canadian whisky...
2016, the installer attempts to install the Ask web browser toolbar, notorious for browserhijacking, and the OpenCandy adware. List of PDF software Johnson...
Svchost32. The website claims that they are not responsible for the browserhijacking. They run an affiliate program that pays affiliates to direct others...
users have installed a web browser other than Internet Explorer, such as Mozilla Firefox or Google Chrome. Though no browser is completely safe, Internet...
Superfish released new apps based on its image search technology. Browserhijacking Computer vision Concept-based image indexing Content-based image retrieval...
Thai (for Thailand). Hao123 has been accused of being a malicious browserhijacker, as it often installs itself without user's consent after being installed...
a browserhijacker component on people's computers which would advertise their site through pop-ups. The installer could turn the user's web browser into...
applications and cause the taskbar and browser menu to become inaccessible. Some websites also employ browserhijackers to reset the user's homepage. The Federal...
installed Mozilla web browser as a web engine provider. The XULRunner support made it possible to install Epiphany as the only web browser on the system. The...
Global Information