SmartSportSearch

SmartSportSearch is a dubious search engine. Users are extremely unlikely to decide to use the services of these engines willingly. In nearly all cases, and SmartSportSearch is not an exception, the fake engines are being proliferated via browser hijacker applications. Once inside the computer, these applications take control over certain browser settings and force them to open the sponsored address.

The SmartSportSearch browser hijacker acts in the same way. It will modify the default search engine and set it to the feed.smartsportsearch.com address. Users should keep in mind that dubious search engines can rarely produce search results on their own. And in this case, all search queries will be redirected to search.yahoo.com, a legitimate engine. 

It is highly likely that users didn't notice when the browser hijacker was being installed on their computers. This is common when it comes to PUPs (Potentially Unwanted Programs), as they spread themselves via underhanded distribution tactics. The most popular by far is called bundling. It involves packaging the intruder application inside the installation process of a far more desirable software product. To find the unwanted addition, users are often forced to look under the 'Custom' or 'Advanced' menus. 

PUPs carry other risks as well. One of their typical characteristics is related to spying on the user's browsing activities. Information such as the browsing history, all clicked URLs and conducted searches, could be transmitted to a remote server where the operators of the PUP can decide how to exploit it freely. They could even try to sell it to interested third parties that could involve cybercriminal gangs.