Browser hijacking is one of the methods of taking control of internet browser by installing unknown addons without any approval. This technique can be used to install malicious software that monitors your browsing habits or to send some sensitive personal information to hackers or to redirect your search to a malicious website which in turn will lead to installation of malware onto the computer.
Home page change, URL redirection, hyperlink redirection, Changes in the hosts file, lots of pop ups which may include obscene pop ups are symptoms of a browser hijack.You may not be able to browse security related websites and it may also lead to DNS Hijack.
Browser hijacking software may install itself as a legitimate program and take complete control of your system.
Prevention tips:
To prevent browser hijacking you need to be little cautious while installing freeware or shareware programs as these programs are bundled with unwanted toolbars and addons.
- Enable automatic update and keep your computer up to date.
- Install Antivirus or Antispyware programs like Ad-aware or Spybot if you have windows defender make sure it is up to date.
- Most of the browsers now come with internal phishing filters which will enable you to identify a fake website from legitimate ones, so make sure phishing filter is enabled in your browser.
- Use a good anti-virus which has features like on demand scan, real time protection, real time scanner, anti phishing, web browser protection.Make sure your antivirus is up to date.
- Make sure Internet explorer is running in protected mode.
if your browser is already hijacked you can use these tools to reset the registry entries:
For more information on these tools please visit
http://infosecurityhub.blogspot.com/2009/08/utilities-for-tracking-malware-hiding.html
Also you can refer to this link for more tools:
http://aumha.org/a/parasite.htm
