Search.mynewswire.co

Posted by Lisa Blanc on August 16, 2016

What is Search.mynewswire.co?

Search.mynewswire.co belongs to a particular malware category. Due to its malicious distribution method, our researchers have classified it as a browser hijacker and recommend that you remove it as soon as possible. Apart from hijacking your web browser’s homepage and new tab page, it will subject you to promotional links featured in its search results. Indeed, this hijacker promotes advertisements in a rather clandestine manner which is dishonest and, frankly, unacceptable. On top of that, it is not even a real search engine because it redirects all search queries to Yahoo.com. Therefore, this fake search engine has nothing to offer, but if you are not convinced, please read this whole article. test test

Where does Search.mynewswire.co come from?

These days, very few browser hijackers are developed by unknown developers because with each new release of a clone, more information emerges and enables security analysts to gather and store information. In the case of Search.mynewswire.co, our researchers did just that, and they are positive that it was made by SaferBrowser. Hence, this hijacker is nearly identical to Search.youremailnow.com, Search.yourclassifiedscenter.com, Search.yourinterestscenter.com, and many other hijackers. Indeed, it has dozens of clones, and they all form a carefully crafted web monetization scheme that involves injecting promotional links in the search results.

There are two ways you can get this hijacker on your computer. It has an unpopular dedicated distribution website at http://mynewswire{.}co which hosts its standalone program. Unlike its clones, this particular hijacker does not install a browser extension to Firefox and Chrome, but an application called MyNewsWire for Internet Explorer only. If you visit this website and download this application, then it is not considered an infection because you did it intentionally. However, it has another, more sinister distribution method. Our security analysts have concluded that Search.mynewswire.co is currently being disseminated via pop-up advertisements presented by ad-supported software. Hence, when you click that kind of ad, then you initiate the clandestine installation of MyNewsWire. That is the primary reason why our researchers have classified Search.mynewswire.co as a browser hijacker. However, its malicious activity does not end there as it is configured to display promotional links.

What does Search.mynewswire.co do?

When you install MyNewsWire, it changes your web browser’s homepage and new tab page addresses to Search.mynewswire.co. If you disregard these changes and start using it for processing your search queries, then, rest assured that you would be subjected to additional promotional links. However, we want to note that it redirects the search queries to Yahoo.com which is a legitimate search engine, but that does not mean that its search results cannot be modified by this hijacker. We want to warn you that that is a potential security threat because there is no way to determine whether the presented search results do not feature links to shady or outright malicious websites.

However, SaferBrowser’s developers want to gloss over this fact by diverting your attention to the variety of bookmarks featured on this fake search engine’s search bar. The official line is that MyNewsWire is a program that can provide you with breaking news feed on your PC. However, all it does is include links to CNN and sites such as Yahoo News and http://search.mynewswire.co/Widgets/News?uc=17000101&userid=198b87d2-b299-4eea-aed4-ac3cd15f9878&implementation=undefined&news=nytimes_us. This is hardly enabling you to view watching breaking news feeds. Therefore, we urge you not to fall for its promotional campaign and see Search.mynewswire.co for what is it — a browser hijacker.

Before we wrap up this article, we want to touch upon privacy. Like all search engines, this hijacker is also set to collect information about you and your browsing habits. Researchers say that it can obtain non-personally identifiable information such as your IP address, and by extension, your approximate geographical location. Furthermore, it will obtain and store information such has entered search queries and browsing history to tailor the promotional links according to your browsing preferences.

How to remove Search.mynewswire.co?

Given, what this hijacker is capable of doing, you should now allow it to keep tabs on you, so we recommend that you uninstall MyNewsWire and reset Internet Explorer’s settings to default to get rid of this hijacker for good. Our security experts have composed a removal guide that is located below this article. We also suggest that you check your PC or adware that could have been the reason your PC became infected with this browser hijacker.