OperativeDevice

Cybersecurity researchers categorize OperativeDevice as an adware-type of threat that has added browser hijacking features. Encompassing thus the capabilities of both malware types, OperativeDevice has several goals.

On one side, it delivers intrusive advertising content in banners, pop-ups, and discount coupons, or fake error messages to the infected computer directly. These messages are annoying extremely, as they appear all the time and overlay any other content that the users view on their displays currently. But more important, anything presented by OperativeDevice could contain links to corrupted Web pages, or lead to the execution of harmful scripts that install additional malware on the user's computer.

On the other side, when OperativeDevice acts like a browser hijacker, it changes the browser's homepage, default search engine, and new tab settings, replacing them with one of the two fake search engines oyrvtrh.com or search.adjustablesample.com. Thus, OperativeDevice generates traffic revenues by redirecting the user queries to third-party websites and other suspicious pages without delivering any unique or useful search results. Browser hijackers usually collect browsing data as well, like IP addresses, visited URLs, geo-locations, search terms and so on. That data is then sold to other threat actors, leading to a high risk of misuse and resulting in privacy issues for the user.

OperativeDevice is most likely distributed through bundling technique: developers pre-package regular software with threatening or unwanted applications. That is how these PUPs may land stealthily on users' computers. It is recommended to use Custom/Advanced installation methods to avoid these unwanted tools.