Search-milk.net

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Search-milk.net is a fake search engine that belongs to a well-recognized online scam. Fundamentally, criminals force inexperienced computer users to visit fake search engines like Search-milk.net in order to expose them to malicious advertisements, other online scams, and at the same time profit from the artificially-inflated web traffic that Search-milk.net receives. To force their victims to visit this website, criminals use browser hijackers, a malware infection. Browser hijackers have several functions; the most common of these involves forcing the victim to visit a particular website repeatedly. This can happen in several ways: a browser hijacker can alter legitimate links so that they direct the computer user to a different website when clicked, it can change the victim's homepage and favorite websites and it can simply go to a malicious website instead of following the directions of the computer user. Browser hijackers associated with Search-milk.net will typically change the results on Google searches so that they link to Search-milk.net instead of to their corresponding website. If your web browser is forcing you to visit Search-milk.net, ESG security researchers strongly advise scanning your computer and removing the malware responsible for these browser redirects. Because of the nature of this malware, a rootkit removal tool may be necessary.

How Criminals Use Malware to Force Your Browser to Visit Search-milk.net Repeatedly

Malware associated with Search-milk.net tends to direct its victims to various fake search engines apart from Search-milk.net. Typically, this malware will establish a connection with a remote server from which it will periodically receive lists of fake search engines that it uses to carry out its browser redirects. The browser hijacker itself is known as the Google Redirect Virus, and is a dangerous Trojan infection that can vary in severity according to the wishes of the criminals controlling it. While in some cases it may only force the victim to visit Search-milk.net randomly once in a while, it may also take over the victim's web browser completely, forcing all online activity through the Search-milk.net website. Malware associated with Search-milk.net will often also include a rootkit component designed to conceal the presence of this malware as well as disabling any legitimate security programs that it detects on the infected computer. To remove Search-milk.net-related malware, it may be necessary to ensure that your security software has anti-rootkit capabilities or to install a specialized rootkit removal tool.