QuericsSearch

QuericsSearch is a browser hijacker and is, therefore, characterized as a Potentially Unwanted Program (PUP). It is designed to promote a fake search engine named search.querics.net. Cybersecurity research shows that this PUP is distributed through a deceptive Adobe Photoshop activation tool.

Once installed on a computer, QuericsSearch changes the default search engine to search.querics.net and also alters the homepage and new tab settings, so that each time the users open their browser or a new tab, they get redirected to QuericsSearch URL. The fake search engine does not generate any unique results; instead, it redirects users to search.yahoo.com and displays results generated by Yahoo. Users only can revert to their previous browser setting settings by removing the QuericsSearch app from their computers.

Also, this application has the ability to gather the user browsing data by installing a feature named 'Managed by our organization' to the victims’ Google Chrome browser. Information collected by this PUP includes visited websites, IP addresses, geolocations and entered search terms. The collected data is then used to generate fraudulent revenues, for example, by selling it to third parties. That may cause severe online privacy issues and deteriorate the browsing safety