What is browser hijacking and how to prevent it

A simple search on Google, Bing or Yahoo website is redirecting you to some unwanted websites? Chances are that your system is infected by a ‘browsing redirect’ virus. Browser hijacking is no longer a far-fetched scenario, cybercriminals acroos the world are increasingly using to it to target innocuous netizens.

So, it's time to identify and tackle browser hijacking.


What exactly is browser hijacking?

Browser redirect virus is a cyberthreat that belongs to 'Browser hijacker' category. Programmes that belong to this category (search engines, deceitful browser add-ons and extensions) can be downloaded to the system and installed on web browsers without getting caught as they are mostly spread with the help of hidden 'bundling'.

How to know if I am a victim?

According to cybersecurity firm eScan, typical symptoms that indicate users having this virus are: Browsers freeze, pages not loading at all, some programs not responding, slow internet connection and weird ads popping on webpages accessed.

If the browser is forcing a redirect to new location like delta-homes.com, conduit, and search protect or other domains while using Google, Yahoo, Bing or other search engine, then it may be an early sign of infection.

According to eScan, “The virus can easily start tracking your browsing habits and start collecting information, which is related to your browsing habits, such as your search terms, mostly visited websites, information that you add when visiting these websites, your computers' IP addresses and locations. This information is considered as 'personally non-identifiable' but its loss can lead you to various issues, such as an increased amount of spam and similar problems,”


How to fix a browser hijack?

Click on Add/Remove Programs or the 'Uninstall a Program' menu inside the control panel screen, scroll through the list of currently installed programs and remove the following:

Quiknowledge
LyricsSay-1
Websteroids
BlocckkTheAds
HD-Plus 3.5

Also, remove any other recently installed application or unknown programs.