Trustedsurf.com

Posted: March 30, 2016

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.

Threat Level:	5/10
Infected PCs:	1,871

First Seen:	March 30, 2016
Last Seen:	April 25, 2023
OS(es) Affected:	Windows

Trustedsurf.com is a search site that may deliver result based on other search engines, but with additional advertising and tracking content. Trustedsurf.com is not a harmful website, but malware researchers have seen recent browser-hijacking campaigns conducting themselves with the intent of promoting this domain. Removing redirects towards Trustedsurf.com and other symptoms typical of unwanted browser changes always should be delegated to your security software, such as a competent anti-adware scanner.

The Browser Hijacker that doesn't Trust You to Pick Trustedsurf.com

Although designing an efficient search engine is a task worth tens of billions of dollars, the talent to do so is accordingly expensive. Malware experts often see many website administrators taking advantage of the back-end of trusted search engines while using their personal front-ends for traffic and self-promotional purposes. Trustedsurf.com is a new instance of one such site and shows one of the recurring issues with them: the preponderance of browser-related security problems.

These Web safety issues began surfacing in March of 2016, being instigated by mislabeled software installers for a Trustedsurf.com browser hijacker. Examples of installation vehicles malware experts can confirm include fake Firefox browser updates along with free media players. No actual update or software installs itself; instead, your default browser search engine is reset to Trustedsurf.com. The different browsers affected by this unwanted software are still subject to investigation, although Firefox is one, confirmed brand.

Some, but not all Trustedsurf.com hijackers also may display other symptoms, such as injecting advertisements into other pages, or loading pop-ups during mouse events (such as left clicks).

Surfing Away from a Wave of Unwanted Results

Scans by both malware researchers and other PC security industries haven't found evidence of threatening behavior on the part of Trustedsurf.com's administrators. While no issues can be linked directly to this site, its additional advertising content has no advantages for any Web surfer, and may give third parties additional avenues for attacking your system, such as other, equally fake update pop-ups. Using updates only provided from official sources, such as a company website or through an automated patching utility, can help most PC users avoid 'updates' that have no point beyond installing unwanted programs like a Trustedsurf.com hijacker.

The Trustedsurf.com hijacker is a Potentially Unwanted Program (often abbreviated to PUP) but does not attack your computer. Although some PUPs may provide meaningful benefits, they may be uninstalled, as part of the process of reducing potential security risks for your PC. Before uninstalling a Trustedsurf.com hijacker, verify that your browser is not open and, if possible, use Safe Mode while running your adware removal tool of choice. Any further redirects or advertising symptoms may be attributable to cookies or other, temporary files that you can purge from your browser according to its developer's recommendations.

If nothing else, Trustedsurf.com's browser-hijacking campaign, ironically, displays the risks of trusting strange downloads indiscriminately.

Technical Details

Additional Information

The following URL's were detected:

trustedsurf.com