In recent years, the security that we enjoy when browsing the Internet has increased dramatically compared to the first decade of the 2000s, thanks, in part, to browsers continually implementing security-related improvements . However, and unfortunately, the friends of what is foreign have also evolved and quickly adapt to bypass the different security measures, although, yes, it is increasingly difficult and they have to help themselves with the lack of knowledge of the users.
If we usually download applications from the Internet, we like to try extensions for our browser or if we simply download any type of content, sooner or later, our browser will end up being hijacked or blocked. But what is a hijacked browser?
What is a hijacked browser
We say that a browser has been hijacked when the home page of our browser is worth the redundancy, it has been modified by a website that invites us to search, display pornographic content, download sites with content protected by copyright. They are also commonly used to impersonate web pages to obtain access data (what is known as phishing), increase the number of visits to certain websites to improve their position in the eyes of Google, display pop-up windows as if they were Windows notifications among many.
Initially, the easiest solution is to change the home page again, however, this is not the case. And I say that it is not, because that option has been disabled, so we cannot change the home page of our browser to the one we usually use. Hence the term hijacked.
How to hijack a browser
The first thing that we must be clear about is that for our browser to run the risk of being hijacked, we must always download some type of content from the Internet. Although it is true that it can also be hijacked through JavaScript code, when the browser is restarted, this code disappears as it resides in the browser’s memory, which is why it is usually used for these purposes. If we do not download an application or even an extension from the official stores, the possibility that our browser ends up being hijacked is reduced to zero.
Between the end of the 90s and the middle of the 2000s, one of the methods most used by friends of the alien was to install a toolbar , a toolbar that occupied the upper part of the browser and that, in addition, changed the default browser we used. Every time we opened the browser, we were shown the home page, usually from Ask , a search engine that took advantage of the vulnerability and ignorance of most users at the time.
Currently, browsers do not allow you to install any type of additional bar to the browser, so the friends of the alien have had to change their modus operandi to hunt down the unwary through extensions (many of them available in the Chrome Web Store , especially those that have not been updated for many years).
Hackers also rely on the distribution of applications, applications that generally include some type of installer that, in most cases, invites us to install additional applications to the one we want to install. These applications include a code that modifies the behavior of the browser to change the home page to the one they want and disable this option in the browser. Novice users usually don’t bother looking for a solution to the problem, even if it leads to a serious security problem that this can only be the beginning of.
Once they have access to our browser, they can download any type of hidden content or code on the home page to execute actions in the operating system, actions that, being a code and not an application, go unnoticed by the antivirus , be it Windows Defender or any other.
Most current antiviruses offer us protection against viruses, not malware, so if we regularly visit websites with a dubious reputation for the content they offer, it never hurts to install an application to detect malware on the computer. As it is a malware application, not an antivirus, we can have it installed and running with the antivirus application that we usually use.
This is how we can free a blocked or hijacked browser
To free our browser if it has been hijacked, we have several options.
Remove suspicious extensions
If just after installing an extension, we see how the home page of our browser has been replaced by one that we do not know, we have already identified the problem and the solution is to uninstall the browser extension. Once we have uninstalled it, the option to change both the home page and the default search browser will automatically be unlocked if it has also been modified.
Delete the cache
The cache are the files that the browser stores on the computer that are generally part of the invariable structure of a website. By downloading it the first time we visit a website, when we visit it again, our browser will use this data instead of downloading it again, so access will be much faster, especially if the internet connection is slow or the server we want to connect to is very busy.
Restore the browser from scratch
If after checking the reliability of the extensions, you find that none of them is the cause of the problem, the only solution left is to restore the browser from scratch. When restoring the browser from scratch, all the browser configuration data will be deleted from the computer, but keeping both the passwords and the favorites, as long as we have associated the browser with an account. If not, this is the first thing we should do if we don’t want to lose all that information.
Uninstall suspicious apps
But, if the hijacked browser problem does not only affect the browser that we use regularly, but is also present in any other browser that we have installed on the computer, the problem is no longer related to the browser itself, but to a malware application. that has sneaked into our system and is responsible for hijacking all browsers.
In these cases, the solution is to uninstall all the applications that we have recently installed, especially if they are little-known applications, applications downloaded illegally and applications that we have installed despite the fact that Windows Defender has invited us not to do so because you have been able to check neither the website of the download nor who is the creator of the application. Although not always, these applications are usually the main culprits of malware entering the computer, especially when it comes to pirted applications.
Once we have uninstalled the application(s), we must analyze our computer with the antivirus that we have installed and, incidentally, use an application to detect malware on the computer. One of the best applications, which is also completely free, is HiJackthis. HiJackThis is an application that scans your computer for malicious or potentially malicious code that could cause a problem for your computer.
How to prevent your browser from being hijacked
There is no single method to prevent our browser from falling into the hands of hackers. If we carry out a series of recommendations, we can avoid it easily and effortlessly.
Use an app to detect malware
One of the most complete applications to detect all kinds of malware, adware, spyware and others is the one offered by Bitdefender , an application that also includes antivirus, so if we opt for this solution, we will have to stop using Windows Defender , since it is not recommended to use two antivirus applications on the same computer if we do not want it to go crazy and the consumption of resources to skyrocket.
Another solution that we must consider to be protected at all times is McAfee , a complete suite that will protect our computer at all times against all kinds of threats, software that also includes an antivirus, so we will find ourselves in the same position as if we used Bitdefender .
Although it is true that in the market we can find a large number of free antivirus applications that everyone knows, we do not recommend them. Maintaining an antivirus requires the work of a certain number of people, people who have to get paid in some way. If they do not market the browser, in most cases, if not 100%, these applications are dedicated to extracting data from our equipment to sell it to third parties.
Do not download applications from any web
If we don’t want to invest money in improving our security in an application that includes support for malware, support that Windows Defender does not include, the best way to do it is to avoid downloading applications from any web page. If we want to remain completely calm, we can use the Virus Total website and analyze the files that we download before compressing or installing them on our computer.
Virus Total will analyze the file through more than 50 different antiviruses, so we are going to be able to make sure if it really is a trustworthy application or if, on the contrary, we are talking about an application with malicious purposes. If we don’t want to download the application, to reduce the risks of a possible infection, we can enter the application’s download URL so that the web analyzes it.