FreeSearchStreams

FreeSearchStreams may try to present itself as a desirable software product that will allow users to find free streams of their favorite shows more conveniently. However, once installed, FreeSearchStreams quickly shows its true intentions - the application is a thinly-veiled browser hijacker.

When deployed on the user's device, the PUP will assume control over the installed Web browsers and modify important aspects of their behavior. Typically, this involves changing the current homepage, new tab page and default search engine. The targeted settings will now be forced to open a promoted page, in this case, freesearchstreams.com. Affected users will notice redirects to the promoted address every time they launch the browsers, open a new tab, and try to conduct a search via the browser's URL bar.

Freesearchstream.com is classified as a fake search engine. It lacks the ability to produce results on its own. Users will instead be presented with search results taken from other sources. These may include legitimate engines such as search.yahoo.com or dubious ones (nearbyme.io). In the latter case, the displayed results may be untrustworthy or filled with unrelated sponsored advertisements.

PUPs also are notorious for spying on the browsing activities carried out on the system. The intrusive applications may collect the entire browsing and search histories, IP address, geolocation, device type, browser type and more, and exfiltrate the data to a server controlled by their operators. It also is possible for the PUP to try and extract sensitive information from the browser's autofill data. Typically, users rely on that feature to save their account credentials, baking details or payment information.