Safesearchmac.com

Safesearchmac.com is a fake search engine that is being promoted through a PUP (Potentially Unwanted Program). Both the engine and the application promise to enhance the browsing experience of the user by generating improved search results. This all just a front thinly hiding the true functionality - promotion of the fake search engine and data-harvesting. 

When the Safe Search Mac PUP sneaks itself on the user's Mac or macOS device, it establishes control over certain browser settings immediately. All of the most popular Web browsers can be affected - Google Chrome, Safari, Mozilla Firefox, etc. The browser hijacker will set the homepage, new page tab, and the default search engine to open the safesearchmac.com address. The PUP will also safeguard the modified settings by preventing the user from reverting them to their original state. 

As we said, Safesearchmac.com is a fake search engine. This means that it adds no real value to the browsing experience simply because it doesn't have the functionality to produce search results. Instead, search queries will be redirected and taken to search.yahoo.com, a legitimate engine, for the list of results. 

The biggest red flag around Safesearchmac.com is that both it and the PUP can be harvesting private user data. The application present on the device can be tracking the browsing and search histories, clicked URLs, IP address, geolocation and more. Users are strongly encouraged to use a professional anti-malware product to clean their systems from all PUPs present there.