Gateway-search.net

Users noticing redirects to the gateway-search.net address in their Web browsers most likely have an intrusive PUP (Potentially Unwanted Program) with browser-hijacker capabilities installed on their devices. After all, the gateway-search.net page belongs to a fake search engine making it extremely unlikely for users to choose it as their browser's default homepage, new tab page, or search engine.

Intrusive PUPs are often delivered to users' computers and devices unnoticed. Some of the commonly employed distribution tactics involve suspicious software bundles or even fake installers/updaters. However, once inside the system, these PUPs could engage several persistence mechanisms to make their removal that much harder. It should be noted that browser hijackers are highly likely to promote fake search engines, and gateway-search.net is not an exception. The page will take the entered search query and redirect it to a different source, as it cannot produce results on its own. This means that users could get dubious results with numerous advertisements injected into them.

While present on the device, the PUPs could cause unwanted redirects to the promoted page, while they are silently spying on the user's browsing activities in the background. The invasive programs could access the browsing and search histories, extract device details, or in some cases, even obtain autofill information from the affected browsers.