‘Browser Change Detected’ Pop-Up

The 'Browser Change Detected' pop-up is a fraudulent pop-up alert that may be used to redirect you to unsafe domains or distribute potentially threatening software. The 'Browser Change Detected' pop-up most frequently is seen by Firefox users, but malware researchers have found nothing about this attack that would prevent it from affecting other Web browsers. Recurring 'Browser Change Detected' pop-up incidents usually are the result of threatening software or PUPs being installed, and should be resolved, like all such situations, by using good security software to scan your PC.

A Pop-Up Attack Stating the Obvious

The 'Browser Change Detected' pop-up is part of a recent attack campaign that was verified as active in May of 2014, but may have been ongoing for a longer period. Like similar attacks of the same format, the 'Browser Change Detected' pop-up presents its victims with misleading information that encourages them to click on the pop-up window (namely, to verify that they want their browser's settings to remain unchanged). Predominantly, these attacks have been occurring through the Firefox Web browser, and were formatted to ignore any attempts to close or minimize the windows. The victim's actual use of the Web browser was irrelevant to the 'Browser Change Detected' pop-up attack, which loaded even when the browser wasn't open.

Automatic pop-ups that use formats similar to a 'Browser Change Detected' pop-up may be responsible for distributing other PC threats, such as threatening software. You should avoid any interaction with a 'Browser Change Detected' pop-up, even to close the 'Browser Change Detected' pop-up – since its 'close window' button may be a disguised part of the window's scripted content, instead of a legitimate part of the window's border interface. Clicking on these pop-ups may infect your PC with Trojans or other threats, and using security tools like Task Manager is preferable, if you need to terminate a 'Browser Change Detected' pop-up without risking your computer's safety.

Keeping a Browser Change from Changing Your PC's Safety

In many cases, the 'Browser Change Detected' pop-up may trigger from browser modifications made by threats. However, its high visibility doesn't directly translate to limited capacity for threats. Because of their strong correlation with techniques used to distribute banking Trojans, FBI Trojans and other high-level threats, the 'Browser Change Detected' Pop-Ups should be viewed as attacks whose origin points you should uproot immediately. Anti-malware tools should be able to confirm whether or not genuine threats are responsible for a 'Browser Change Detected' pop-up, while suspicious websites that provoke a 'Browser Change Detected' pop-up are worthy of blacklisting.

Many victims of pop-ups, whether they're a 'Browser Change Detected' pop-up or just harmless advertisements, are tempted to uninstall their browsers or make settings changes without addressing the root of the pop-up issue. Pop-ups launched by threats like the 'Browser Change Detected' pop-up, will continue to be launched even if you completely reinstall the affected browser. Even the apparent removal of a 'Browser Change Detected' pop-up may fail to delete other security hazards, assuming that removal doesn't include proper anti-malware strategies.