What are browser hijackers?

by Amrita Mitra | Mar 7, 2017 | CCNA, CCNP, CompTIA, Data Breaches and Prevention, End Point Protection, Malware Prevention, Online Banking Security

What are browser hijackers?

I think almost all of us have encountered browser hijackers at some point. A browser hijacker is unwanted software that changes a web browser’s settings without the user’s permission. But, actually, a browser hijacker is much more serious than that. Other than changing browser settings, it often installs adware, spyware, or other malware and steals sensitive user information. Thus it makes the user’s computer vulnerable to even more cyberattacks.

How do browser hijackers infect a computer?

Browser hijackers can infect a computer by several means. Most of the time, they get installed on your computer by installing untrusted freeware or shareware. These software programs contain browser hijackers bundled with the installable program. Sometimes browser hijackers get installed on a computer while installing untrusted browser extensions or toolbars. That is why it is so important to install software only from trusted sources. And it is always good to read the end-user agreement before installing the software.

What do browser hijackers do?

Once browser hijackers infect a computer, they can do several things.

They can change browser settings to inject unwanted advertisements into your browser.
They can redirect your browser to unwanted websites to generate forced hits and, thereby, increase their revenue.
Browser hijackers can contain spyware (What is spyware?), which can record sensitive data from your computer and send it to the attackers. So, you may see a considerable increase in network activity from your computer, and your computer may even become very slow.
They may install additional malware like keyloggers (What is a keylogger?) to log your keystrokes and hack your accounts using that information. In fact, some browser hijackers infect a computer and then disable security programs installed on the computer. As a result, they can easily install additional malware programs on the computer for malicious purposes.
In some worst cases, a browser hijacker may infect your computer with malware like Remote Access Trojan (What is a Remote Access Trojan?) and gain administrative access to your computer. The attackers can exploit the administrative access later for their malicious activities.

How to know whether a browser has been hijacked?

There are several symptoms that can indicate whether a browser is hijacked. Some of them are …

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