Homepage Hijack

Has the problem of Homepage hijacking gone away ?

I use FF and SBxie all the time and get no problems from such threats or any other for that matter.

But before that I used IE8 and suffered a Homepage hijack by clicking some attractive item on a website.

My Google Homepage was immediately changed to a full screen display of hardcore porn pictures, so when I logged on I got these infinite perversions of the human imagination displayed before me.

I was utterly shocked and disgusted, so much that after 2-3 hours I shut down my system because of eyestrain and set about getting my Google back, which I did.

John

 

It is still there

 

You need to see an eye specialist!

When you go to bed tonight and close your eyes, it will be still there.

LOL!

Best regards,

KOR!

 

All I ever got were flashing banner ads and pop-ups..I feel cheated, lol. On a serious note, yes, they are still around, but the social engineering game is more fun for hackers these days. Also, homepage hijacking is often found in perfectly legit apps, in the form of various toolbar installs like Yahoo, Ask and such. Watch those checkboxes.

 

Thanks so far.

I know this thread s not going to bust any world records for being the longest, but I would appreciate your enlightenment on this :-

As many of you know, I go around defending and promoting Sandboxie like a M1A2 Abrams , where tank busting shells bounce of me like Acorns. Can a Homepage Hijack still penetrate my armor where Acorns fail ?

John

 

It's not going to penetrate Sandboxie, no.

 

Amen to that. But watching check-boxes itself doesn't guarantee everything...some just ignore whatever options you set. Of course, there's WinPatrol but not everyone is going to run/install that on their PC...

IMO, homepage hijack is a problem that is here to stay. I can' see it disappearing any time in the near future...at least, not for everyone.