NetInput

NetInput is an application that combines the characteristics of adware with those of a browser hijacker. In addition, the deceptive marketing and distribution tactics used for the delivery of the application also classify it as a PUP (Potentially Unwanted Program). What this means is that users rarely install the application knowingly, and instead, the installation process of NetIntput might be hidden inside the install menu of another more popular program in a tactic known as 'bundling.'

Once installed on the computer system, NetInput will be able to generate unwanted ad materials such as pop-up windows, banners, advertisements injected into the text of visited websites. The overlays it creates could take up screen space and cover the actual content that the user is looking at. These promoted third-party advertisements could be for additional PUPs, rogue applications, or even redirect to compromised or unsafe websites.

As for the browse hijacker functions of NetInput, users will notice that their Safari, Chrome Opera, Firefox, and other browser have had some of their settings changed. In most cases, the homepage, new page tab, and the default search engine will be set to open a specific address promoted by the browser hijacker. These addresses, more often than not, are of fake search engines. Lacking the ability to produce any search results at all, these engines take the search queries of the users and redirect them through a legitimate search engine such as search.yahoo.com. Promoted links that are not relevant at all to the specific search terms can then be injected into the list of displayed results.

Further privacy issues, however, are raised due to the ability of these types of applications to harvest certain user information and then exfiltrate it. Most limit themselves to accessing the browser and search history, visited URLs, IP address, and geolocation but others, including NetInput, try to dig deeper and also obtain sensitive data such as banking details saved in the affected browser.