Search Results Hijacked by Malware

 
I tutored someone over the phone
today. We were trying to install
the Google Toolbar on his home
computer.

I thought it was going to be an
easy task. I was wrong.

Seems that everytime this man
tried to install the Google
toolbar on his browser, he got
redirected by adware to a site
advertising something.

The same thing happened when he
tried to go to the the home page
for Trend Micro's Housecall software.
Again, he was redirected to adware.

I just found it so hard to believe
that this was actually happening.
Keep in mind that the man is describing
all this to me over the phone.

After we hung up our phones I did a
Google search on adware redirection.
Here the web page that came up:

Search Results Hijacked

OK. Now I know it is possible. Now I
know that is malware out there that will
hijack your search results. I'm loosely
calling this adware though this may
not be the correct term.

The lesson? Always challenge assumptions
by seeking out hard evidence to either prove
or disprove the assumption.

In this case, I had assumed that it was not
possible to get your search results hijacked.
It was not a strongly felt assumption. It was
just an assumption based on the fact I had
never thought of this possibility before.

I'll be looking more into adware hijacking
in the future.

Ed Abbott