It might be very tempting to enjoy services for lower prices than usually. Coupons from various type of ad-serving applications are known to provide discounts and to help people save money. However, this official objective is not always transparent and reliable.

In most cases when third-parties generate software, delivering promotional content, they tend to go overboard and introduce adware parasites instead of actually handy tools. This is unfortunate by surfers that might be hoping to save some money and shop more efficiently, without spending disturbing amounts of money.

This time, we decided to review a WebSaver, a service, focused on Canadian people. However, this does not mean that any person is forbidden from registering for this service. According to the reports we have read, WebSaver adware can generate inappropriate amounts of advertisements, fill email accounts with junk emails and initiate improper tracking of online activities. Therefore, we recommend you find another digital program to use for the purpose of finding convenient coupons.

There are hundreds of unreliable software tools, promising to display relevant coupons and discounts. Nevertheless, they rarely turn out to be appropriate for usage. In most cases, such as WebSaver adware, clients might be disturbed with way too intense marketing strategies that make it difficult for people to enjoy their browsing. Furthermore, nobody would wish to have their online activities secretly monitored by unknown third-parties, especially when they are permitted to freely share their gathered material with partners.

Long story short, programs that function for the purpose of delivering advertisements, coupons, rivalry prices, or any other promotional content should be properly examined before utilized. For instance, you should do some research, read reviews and determine whether the selected will be beneficial. If the service is bound to cause more security issues than to please users, it is clear that surfers should choose an approved application or stick to finding cheap goods on their own.

A limited number of browser hijackers can survive and thrive for longer than a few years. In most cases, their distribution slowly dies out or their extensions are removed from stores and file-sharing websites. Www-searching.com infection is a 5-year-old threat that circulates around people from United States of America. People from other countries are affected as well, but not as frequently.

You do not need special instincts to find out that your browsing applications are being controlled by a browser hijacker. If you will be infected with a regular browser extension such as Www-searching.com.com, you will clearly see its address once you open home pages and new tab pages. Malware infections have also been noticed to automatically open browsers once an operating system is rebooted.

Reports from France and Netherlands have suggested that Www-searching.com website is affecting people from these countries as well. If removal instructions would be more convenient in these languages, we have no problem providing you with this option. Read analysis of Www-searching.com browser hijacker in French and Dutch languages.

Besides the obvious modifications in your browsers’ preferences, we should also mention a few other symptoms that might occur. First of all, you will constantly wondering why your device is running slower than usual. Also, you will be forced to close endless new tabs, presenting propositions for coupons or surveys. If you ever decide to interact with such content, you might infect your computer devices with viruses.

Www-searching.com redirect virus has been diagnosed to trigger referrals to many deceptive domains. Some of them presented rogue offers to install security software. Others invited people to download Google Chrome extensions. Long story short, all of these propositions are determined to transmit malware samples.

Additionally, it was noticed to display results to search queries from Plusnetwork.com which is not considered as the most appropriate domain to set people up with links. If you wish to have your operating system functioning without any disturbances and setbacks, we hope you will protect it with appropriate tools.

When it comes to categorising malware, it can get really tricky deciding whether a particular virus should be clasified as an adware or browser hijacker infection. For instance, DealWifi virus ir primary listed as an adware, but there is a version of this virus called mystart.dealwifi.com and mystart3.dealwifi.com. Those viruses act as a browser hijackers and alwyas come together with DealWifi adware.

Most of browser hijackers can be listed as adware infections, while only a few adware viruses can be named to be also a browser hijacker. That’s because browser hijacker features more attributes and basically is more dangerous. Usually they will change settings on your web browsers and in addition to that, they will display various advertisements or hijack your web searches which is the same advertising only in a different form. On the other hand, adware viruses usually gets installed as an extension on a web browser and users are even not aware about the presence of such addons since it doesn’t modify any important settings. The only thing you can notice is a larger dose of advertisements displayed on various websites and random redirects.

So if the virus clasiffies for both of those criteria, i.e. it’s hijacking web browsers and acting as an adware infection, it should probably be listed as browser hijacker. If it only gets installed on your web browser and displays various advertisements, then it’s obviously an adware.

In this particular case with DealWifi virus we decided to split it to 3 seperate infections. Cyber security experts on Malwarerid.com even dedicated 3 individual posts to this particular infection. DealWifi is an adware that is added to web browsers and tries to make a living by displaying various advertisements. mystart.dealwifi.com is a website that is set by DealWifi adware to be serve as a homepage and primary search provider. As it is believed, mystart3.dealwifi.com is an updated version of this browser hijacker.

So as you can see, as a whole, this DealWifi malware could be categorised as a browser hijacker, but sometimes it is worth to seperate the symptoms and give extra ammount of attention to every single one of them. Everydayg users can get confused and lost between all those names of malware, so whenever you are searching the web with a goal to solve a problem, try to search by the symptom, not by the actual name of particular problem. This way you will enhance your chances of discovering the information you really need.

There are thousands of browser hijackers that never receive attention from surfers and do not occupy any significant domination in the rankings of top-visited domains. However, Bitmotion-tab.com infection strikes as a rather popular infection which has received a lot of surfers from India.

In this country, the suspicious tool for searching obtains 4,150 place. According to the additional traffic analysis, the visitation sky rocked after February of 2017 and has not significantly dropped since. There might have been certain variations, but the engine is still on top.

Besides India, Bitmotion-tab.com browser hijacker has infected people from Spain and Portugal. Therefore, we are glad to announce that we can provide you with removal guides in Portuguese and Spanish languages. Knowing that manually removing infections can be complicated, we hope that reading them in a more familiar frame will help you.

Symptoms of Bitmotion-tab.com are as following:

1. Unauthorized modifications to former browsers’ preferences. Also, you cannot assign new domains in positions of home pages, default search providers and new tab pages. This is because Bitmotion Tab keeps returning.
2. Windows Task Manager can indicate a high percentage of utilized CPU resources. If you are barely running any applications, this can easily be indicated as a sign of malware.
3. Advertisements keep popping up while you browse. Most of them invite you to try out security software applications, engage in surveys, download updates or visit new domains. Also, rogue pop-ups could show false positives, meaning, that they will inform you about viruses in your operating system and have no proof to support their statements.
4. Redirection constantly reroutes you to websites you had never seen. Remember that many third-party domains could be designed to use strategies of exploit kits. This means that if there are any vulnerabilities in your device, payload of malware will have no problem getting in.
5. You cannot access other search providers. If you try to go to Google, Bitmotion-tab.com can appear instead. This feature does not always happen, but we have heard of such cases.
6. Rogue browser extension could modify other browsers’ settings as well. For instance, it could allow automatic installation of additional add-ons. Of course, if such a setting is enabled, user won’t be informed about the installation.

By now, millions of people should have experienced violations of privacy due to malware. Google Chrome and other popular browsers have been warning their users to download add-ons and extensions with caution. These advises are done because of rogue applications for browsers very frequently are the source of security issues.

There are tons of different software tools that can trigger problems. However, today, we are going to discuss one specific browser hijacker. Palikan.com malware sample has been affecting people for over three years now and its ratings are not dropping.

It has become a worldwide infection and obtains the highest percentage of web traffic from India. Nevertheless, French and Portuguese people have also been reporting this browser hijacker to appear. Therefore, we provide you with removal guides in Portuguese and French languages.

Long story short, the infection of Palikan.com redirect virus can transfer you from one website to another without any warnings. While scrolling one domain, you could be forced to review a completely different one. Search platforms that have acquired a reputation for being malicious, could be the reason behind additional malware threats. Repetitive redirection, malvertising and various types of other inconveniences will occur.

One of the clearest signs of Palikan.com browser hijacker is that this website will be launched as your home page, default search provider and new tab page. This modification could have been done without your authorization. Victims of malware also notice that CPU resources are clearly being over-utilized. This is especially evident when user runs only few applications, but the Windows Task Manager indicates a high percentage of CPU resources being used.

Owners of Palikan.com virus do not reveal themselves. Even the section that should contain contact informations is completely empty. In the terms of use of this website we found that concerned clients can contact [email protected], but we have our suspicions that this support won’t respond. On the other hand, the EULA and Privacy Policy documents are very long and explain all of the conditions very in great depth. However, we do not think this search tool is worthy of usage. Select more properly-protected platforms to execute your search queries.

Nowadays you can’t browse the Internet without seeing various advertisements around every website. Even if you use some software blocking advertisements (such as AdBlock), advertisers still find new ways to display sponsored content and monetise their content this way.

Usually it’s completely OK because you get a content you want to see in return for going through all those advertisements. Unfortunately, advertisements sometimes can be malicious and dangerous and the problem is it’s really difficult to tell whether the advertisement is malicious or legitimate.

There are 3 main scenarios for this happening:

1) Website you are visiting is involved in some kind of unreliable advertising network to make more money;

2) Your computer and web browsers are infected with adware infection;

3) Your computer and web browsers are infected with browser hijackers.

In first case there is not much you can do, except avoiding such as website and protecting your computer with anti-malware software. Now, if you are seeing additional advertisements due to the reasons no. 2 and 3, you can solve this problem rather simply.

Usually malware like browser hijackers and adware are operating as browser extensions and gets added to your web browsers. As a consequence, you will be seeing various advertisements and experiencing random redirects that shouldn’t be there. Malware such as Liveadexchanger aims to infect computers, build some web traffic and then push various advertisements from their sponsors. Usually they get paid for every single click on those ads, so they try to force users into doing that. Users from all around the world are vulnerable, as viruses like Liveadexhanger is adapted to Spanish or any other language.

The most complicated part of eliminating virus like this is identifying that your computer is infected with on. Some users can not notice additional advertisements and thus problem would be left unnoticed. For that reason every decent computer user should have anti-malware software installed. Most of AM programs will provide you with real-time protection so malware like adware or browser hijackers won’t sneak into your computer. Only regular scans and clean up of the system can assure that your computer is free of viruses and you can safely browse the Internet.

A new spam campaign is circulating around emails as well known Locky ransomware is trying to push a new version of the old virus into the market – Diablo6. As a part of the socially responsible cyber security community, we feel the urge to inform you about the distribution of this deadly infection and raise awareness.

International Business Times (IBTimes) dedicated an article to this infection and disclosed that cyber criminals are asking for $1600 as a ransom payment, which is a lot of money (1).

Diablo6 virus

It is not yet clear if this Diablo6 ransomware is just a shot in the dark, foolish attempt to bring Locky virus back to the life, or it’s a well-planned attack which will have consequences similar to the ones after Locky hit the cyberworld. However, depending on the way it is distributed, it looks like there are some professionals behind it. We have already mentioned, that this virus is distributed as an attachment to the spam emails. Those emails are targeted to the audience that is very wast so basically anyone can become a victim of this dangerous virus. But is it the end of the world if you get hit with Diablo6? Obviously not. It all depends on how good your are prepared for it.

How to protect yourself against Diablo6/Locky?

Cyber security experts at 2-viruses.com issued a decent guide how to eliminate this infection and be prepared not only for Locky, but all kinds of similar viruses (2). Please notice that there is no way to decrypt files that have been encyrpted with ransomware this threatful, yet you can properly prepare and be ready for attacks like this. Some of the main points:

1. Good back-up is the key. No infection can pose a threat to you if you constantly back-up your files. It can destroy all your operating system with all files and registries, but if you have a back-up, you will be able to restore everything within a minutes. It’s important that the back-up is stored on an external storage or cloud because otherwise the back-up file can get corrupted as well.
2. Real-time protection. Anti-malware application with a real time protection feature can prevent you from downloading suspicious files or opening attachments that can pose a threat, so it would definitely help.
3. Avoid unreliable sources. Only visit websites that are officially legitimate, don’t download software from unreliable sources and most importantly – stay away from emails from spam category.

References:

1 – IBTimes

2 – 2-viruses

Ransomware infections (1) have been around for years now, but their dominance in the cyber-world has only become evident in 2017. There had been local attacks, like infections that focused on people from Ukraine (2), or the ones that broke out in the worldwide level (3). Nevertheless, Cerber crypto-virus remains to be one of the most frightening ransomware threats of all time, and new samples continue to pop out.

In August, an elaborate sample of Cerber malware has been detected to haunt people with a new tactic: to infect computer devices and steal users’ bitcoin wallet credentials.(4) As soon as these accounts are accessed and wiped clean, there is no way of restoring the wallet because hackers delete it.

This sample from ransomware category has matured with many developments. To find out more about the way this infection functions, which files it encrypts and so on, we recommend you to read an article from 2-viruses.com. This analysis will provide with all of the essential details that need to be learned about Cerber crypto-virus.

There had been many stages of activity for Cerber computer infection. First of all it debuted as a rather unusual and well-designed ransomware. After some time, it was found available on underground forums and its most popular method for distribution appears to be exploit kits. Shockingly, according to the analysis by Google, hackers behind Cerber have managed to obtain $6.9 million dollars as revenue (5). Sadly, these crooks are still unidentified.

This malware variant does not plan to leave the business of file-encoding anytime soon. As long as authors of these infections will successfully obtain money from these hoaxes, ransomware will never be defeated. According to the reports from victims of Cerber file-encoder, it is clear that people from all over the world are targeted, beginning from Russia, Ukraine, Moldova, Spain, Portugal, France and Denmark.

Of course, infected victims will certainly feel more comfortable if they will be able to read the content in their own native language. You can find instructions for removal and additional information about this infection in Spanish, Portuguese, French and Danish languages.

Please remember that paying for decryption of files only makes ransomware authors continue working on their projects and ruining lives of innocent online surfers. To make sure that you do not suffer from a similar fate, we advise you to always update your software and operating system; if you do this, many security gaps will be fixed. Also, back up your data in online storages as a precaution.

References:

1. What is ransomware? A guide to the global cyberattack’s scary method. Wired.com.
2. Hackers who targeted Ukraine clean out bitcoin ransom wallet. Theguardian.com.
3. ‘Petya’ ransomware attack strikes companies across Europe and US. Theguardian.com.
4. Now Cerber ransomware wants to steal your Bitcoin wallets and passwords too. Zdnet.com.
5. Google Study Quantifies Ransomware Profits. Threatpost.com.

Ad-based parasites have become notorious for their aggressive and persistent marketing strategies, always aiming at the biggest revenues. Online advertisements, as we hope you know, are not always the most transparent and conforming with the essential rules of cyber security.

Their content could be misleading and deceptive, aiming to trick into believing clickable ads. If you decide to press a button on an ad, you could be auto-transferred to a remote website, possibly making it its mission to scam you or find out some personal and valuable information about users.

One specific question is constantly asked by people that have to battle adware infections: how did I become infected? Ads can be triggered by all sorts of applications: rogue browser extensions, add-ons, or desktop applications that receive a spot in one of the folders of your operating system. We have learned that banners. Pop-ups, widgets, in-texts ads can bother people every time they decide to explore the Internet. Some malicious tools can even modify the content of visited websites and implant sponsored material as if it belongs in the website.

Adware malware continues to implement similar strategies that it has engaged through the years. Have you ever encountered ads, stating “Warning! Computer Infected!” “Free scan! Your computer is full of Trojans and spyware!”? These pop-ups are called technical support scams that aim to lure people with guarantees to have their computer devices properly checked for malware viruses.

However, if you agree to allow an unknown executable/program to be set up in your OS, Trojan or other type of infection will be brought in as well. In some cases, helpline numbers are incorporated into these scams and concerned people can contact alleged Microsoft technicians. This might create some level of credibility, but even if you engage in a conversation with an actual person, this will only mean that the scam is more elaborate and aims to swindle money in more convincing ways.

One specific theme for advertisements is online shopping coupons and rivalry prices from other vendors. While browsing through items from Amazon or other online shop, you could be presented with a list of similar merchandises. Therefore, many adware applications take a form of “online shopping assistants” and hope that people will feel more eager to utilize them. Ad-networks are mostly obsessed with monetization possibilities. Every new client is probably seen as a dollar bill and not a person to be assisted during his/her online shopping.

One specific tool is called DealPly: it is advertised as a free, safe and friendly browser app which will eagerly present more affordable alternatives for the items users have recently reviewed. Lowest deals from Amazon, eBay and other online shops are guaranteed. However, the tool fluctuates between being a potentially unwanted program (PUP) and a adware tool. Read more about this add-on on 2-viruses.com.