Searchmine.net or Search Mine is a dubious application that has recently been reported to have impacted a large number of Mac OS users around the world.
This malicious search tool alters default browser settings of popular browsers such as Google Chrome, Safari & Mozilla Firefox without your consent. It further replaces the home-page & search engine for your default web-browsers to https://searchmine.net.
The prominent method of its propagation is Software Bundling, fake software updates, network file sharing & spam e-mail campaigns.
Name: | Searchmine.net |
Type: | Browser Hijacker |
Category: | Malware |
Targeted Operating System: | Mac OS |
Targeted Browsers: | Safari, Chrome, Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, |
Insight into the Threat Behavior of Searchmine.net
Search Mine or searchmine.net is a malicious search engine that asserts to provide better search results & quick access to various renowned websites such as Facebook, Twitter & YouTube. Please note that such claims are fake, as these are mere attempts take the users into thinking that they installing a legitimate & useful application.
However, this fraudulent application begins to show its true intentions as soon as you install it on your Mac.
You will observe unauthorized modifications in the browser’s default settings such as home-page, search engine & new tab functionality & replaced with https://searchmine.net.
The new home-page will deteriorate your web browsing experience by causing unexpected redirects to malicious & malware-laden pages. These websites may display commercial content such as banners, hyperlinks, pop-ups, discount offers etc.
You will face difficulty in accessing other search providers & requisite information from this replaced home-page. All the web-searches will be redirected to search.yahoo.com result pages. You system may become extremely sluggish & you may observe bogus alerts, pop-ups & notifications appearing on your system over & over again.
The sole motive of hackers behind causing these redirects is to redirect online traffic to affiliated/sponsored websites & generate illicit revenue in return.
Considered as a Potentially Unwanted Program (PUP) by the cyber security analysts, Searchmine.net can impact all the popular browsers such as Safari, Google Chrome & Mozilla Firefox.
This devious search engine has the functionality of tracking & collecting your web-browsing activities, online preferences, location, technical details of the device like browser type, IP Address, OS Version, Bookmarks & Banking Credentials.
Cyber-security researchers have found that searchmine.net is a variant of other fake search engines such as weknow.com & chumsearch.com.
The chief method of propagation of Searchmine.net Browser Redirect is Software Bundling (freeware or shareware).
Other common methods used by the hackers to spread the infection of Searchmine.net includes-
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