Surfvox.com

Surfvox.com is a search engine portal and general-interest article site that recently has become embroiled in a series of browser-hijacking campaigns. These attacks changed the search and homepage settings of Chrome, forcing PC users to load Surfvox.com without any respect for their default settings or their theoretical will. Malware analysts may not see a reason to classify Surfvox.com as a threat site, but that doesn't excuse the attacks of Surfvox.com search hijackers, whose removal from your PC should use strenuous anti-malware protocols.

The Web-Surfing that Takes Place Automatically

Although search engines face theoretically high profits from their traffic, the task of designing a real search engine is nearly Herculean. Surfvox.com and sites just like Surfvox.com try to have it both ways; by creating a Web page resembling a search engine, and then redirecting its searches over to Google, Surfvox.com tries to procure profit without the burden of Web design. If that was all Surfvox.com was guilty of doing, malware experts would pay little notice to Surfvox.com, but Surfvox.com also has been seen in the center of new search engine-hijacking attacks.

These attacks were first widely noted in mid-May of this year, and, so far, remain specific to the Chrome browser, with other browsers ignored. Symptoms of high visibility include being redirected to Surfvox.com from your default search engine and homepage, along with being unable to force Chrome to respond to any following changes to its search and homepage settings. Some users also reported that any other extensions installed on Chrome were deleted automatically, albeit only after a system reboot. Although malware experts were able to confirm the involvement of a fake sound management application, AKA 'soundmng.exe,' deleting this file does not restore Chrome's normal behavior or stop redirects to Surfvox.com.

Riding the Wave Away from a New Hijacker

Surfvox.com hijackers currently are suspected to be installed through poor reputation download sources, such as torrents and cracked software websites. Because of the potential for bundling with other, more desirable product than a search engine hijacker, it's simple for a Web surfer to unintentionally modify their favorite browser – and then have no clue how to prevent it from loading Surfvox.com constantly. Malware experts recommend switching to Safe Mode and scanning your PC with updated security tools that can remove soundmng.exe and all other components of a Surfvox.com hijacker. In some circumstances, reinstalling Chrome also may be required to restore its normal settings.

Like other ill-minded search engines, Surfvox.com profits off of the haste and ignorance of PC users who value a download more than their own computer's safety. Based on the numerous complaints and already recurring negative reputation that Surfvox.com hijackers are building up, just a little caution about the programs you download should save your browser from being taken over by threats.