Safari Malware on Mac and PC

Computer users who happened to experience the adverse effects of adware are well aware of how noxious these apps can get. The digital parasites representing this category are designed to take a tangible amount of web browsing control out of the victim’s hands. While there are certain digressions in the impact of different types of adware programs, they all pursue the same thing – to display advertisements and subsequently get the reward. 

Starting with installation onto a Mac or PC and ending with web page appearance distortion, Safari malware sticks to tricky techniques that pull the user out of the loop. Similarly to some of its counterparts, this potentially unwanted software has got a site of its own online, with basic product information, terms of use, privacy policy and even contact details provided. That’s pretty ironic though, because people never really go to that site to download the tool on there anyway – moreover, there isn’t even a download button to click.

That oddness is easy to explain, given the actual way of distribution practiced by the authors of the bug in question. The unsafe payload gets built into other installations. There are dozens of such free solutions, mainly file downloaders and media players. It’s therefore reasonable to point out that if you are about to get some free software – chances are it’s got a company that you won’t enjoy, so be watchful.

Most of the affected users associate malware infection with Ads, which are outcomes of the adware’s pranks. First, the virus adds an extension with cross-browser functionality which compromises Safari, Firefox and Chrome. As a result, the visited web pages will start getting stuffed with sponsored information incorporated into pop-ups, coupon boxes, price comparisons, interstitial adverts and the like. Important to know, this is unrelated to the websites proper; it’s the malicious add-ons inserting the data that it’s programmed to.

By the way, malware ads are not random. They are individually selected for each user, which means that the adware monitors its victim’s online interests. Needless to say how this activity relates to one’s privacy – that’s a violation in its purest form. So, annoying ads on arbitrary sites, longer page load times, privacy issues and unauthorized changes to browser settings are a completely sufficient reasoning for malware removal.