Safe Web Alliance

Posted: February 10, 2014

Threat Metric

The Threat Meter is a malware assessment that SpywareRemove.com's research team is able to give every identifiable malware threat. Our Threat Meter includes several criteria based off of specific malware threats to value their severity, reach and volume. The Threat Meter is able to give you a numerical breakdown of each threat's initial Threat Level, Detection Count, Volume Count, Trend Path and Percentage Impact. The overall ranking of each threat in the Threat Meter is a basic breakdown of how all threats are ranked within our own extensive malware database. The scoring for each specific malware threat can be easily compared to other emerging threats to draw a contrast in its particular severity. The Threat Meter is a useful tool in the endeavor of seeking a solution to remove a threat or pursue additional analytical research for all types of computer users.

The following fields listed on the Threat Meter containing a specific value, are explained in detail below:

Threat Level: The threat level scale goes from 1 to 10 where 10 is the highest level of severity and 1 is the lowest level of severity. Each specific level is relative to the threat's consistent assessed behaviors collected from SpyHunter's risk assessment model.

Detection Count: The collective number of confirmed and suspected cases of a particular malware threat. The detection count is calculated from infected PCs retrieved from diagnostic and scan log reports generated by SpyHunter.

Volume Count: Similar to the detection count, the Volume Count is specifically based on the number of confirmed and suspected threats infecting systems on a daily basis. High volume counts usually represent a popular threat but may or may not have infected a large number of systems. High detection count threats could lay dormant and have a low volume count. Criteria for Volume Count is relative to a daily detection count.

Trend Path: The Trend Path, utilizing an up arrow, down arrow or equal symbol, represents the level of recent movement of a particular threat. Up arrows represent an increase, down arrows represent a decline and the equal symbol represent no change to a threat's recent movement.

% Impact (Last 7 Days): This demonstrates a 7-day period change in the frequency of a malware threat infecting PCs. The percentage impact correlates directly to the current Trend Path to determine a rise or decline in the percentage.

Ranking:	10,951
Threat Level:	1/10
Infected PCs:	297

First Seen:	February 10, 2014
Last Seen:	October 7, 2023
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

Safe Web Alliance is a fake organization for online security that uses browser hijackers to block various harmless sites, including domains strongly associated with PC security. Although the Safe Web Alliance's website misrepresents its services as able to monitor and block threatening URLs, there are no advantages to allowing the Safe Web Alliance to block websites at its own discretion, and malware researchers consider Safe Web Alliance hijackers to be essentially indistinguishable from threats. Although Safe Web Alliance may prevent you from accessing common sources of anti-malware software, the use of this software remains the safest way of removing a browser hijacker that blocks websites without allowing you how your own Web browser behaves.

The Browser-Hijacking Alliance without Any Interest in Your PC's Safety

The Safe Web Alliance is elaborated upon at safeweballiance.com as a PC security institution that works 'behind the scenes' to block compromised websites. However, malware researchers have noticed numerous characteristics that implicate the Safe Web Alliance in fraudulent acts that attempt to harm vulnerable PCs' security, rather than providing any kind of protection. The most outstanding of these attributes is the Safe Web Alliance's reliance on browser hijackers, which are installed without any visible components and no symptoms, other than the victim being redirected to safeweballiance.com from unrelated websites.

The concealed format of the Safe Web Alliance's browser hijackers is suspicious enough, but the fact this hijacking campaign has been known to block real PC security makes it clear that these programs actually are threatening applications designed to harm, rather than help, your online security. The Safe Web Alliance hijackers are particularly known for blocking major shopping websites, media sites like YouTube and websites related to major anti-malware vendors such as Malwarebytes. However, other sites than these also may be blocked.

The Safe Web Alliance also has several other traits common to criminal Web domains, such as hidden ownership records, limited information about the organization's supposed functions and an extremely recent registration date. Because the Safe Web Alliance's current management is less than half a year old, most PC security companies haven't caught up to list Safe Web Alliance as a risky domain. At the present time, safeweballiance.com has not been placed on any major blacklists that would block the site automatically.

Breaking Up the Alliance Against Your Browser

Although the Safe Web Alliance's website may or may not include any additional hazardous content, the simple fact that its browser hijackers restricts access to critical security websites is more than sufficient to categorize both this domain and its software as toxic. Considering the predilections of the Safe Web Alliance's hijackers to prevent you from using real security tools, malware experts would recommend that you attempt to disable them before removing them. Standard means of disabling similar advanced threats include switching to Safe Mode (available on most major OSes) and/or booting through an emergency USB device. Deleting your Safe Web Alliance hijacker then can proceed apace with any anti-malware product you like, unblocked.

The Safe Web Alliance exemplifies how criminals use misinformation to further their goals of removing real security measures in favor of fake ones. Browser redirects away from sites that you know to be trustworthy always should be considered nothing less than attacks against your PC. Currently, Safe Web Alliance hijackers have only been confirmed for Chrome, but other browsers also may be at risk, and other threats also may be installed with a Safe Web Alliance hijacker.

Safe Web Alliance

Threat Metric

The Browser-Hijacking Alliance without Any Interest in Your PC's Safety

Breaking Up the Alliance Against Your Browser

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