TigerMovieSearch

TigerMovieSearch is a browser hijacker application dedicated to the promotion of a fake search engine. Users who either willingly, or as is typically the case, unknowingly, have TigerMovieSearch installed on their devices will notice its presence almost immediately. The application wastes no time taking over specific browser settings such as the homepage, new page tab and the default search engine. All three will be set to open tigermoviesearch.com. The goal is to drive artificial traffic towards it whenever the user starts the browser, opens a new tab, or conducts any search query in the affected browser.

Tigermoviesearch.com is classified as a fake search engine due to its inability to produce any search results on its own. When a user initiates a search, two scenarios are likely to happen - the search will be redirected to a legitimate engine directly, or a chain of redirects will be started that goes through other fake search engines before once more reaching a legitimate one. TigerMovieSearch employs both variants and determines which one to use based on the user's geolocation. In the first cases, the search will be taken directly to search.yahoo.com, while in the other, the user will first be redirected to search.onlinebars.xyz before ultimately displaying results provided by Bing.

Keeping browser hijacker applications present on your device or computer can be regarded as a security issue. Indeed, nearly all applications of this type have at least some degree of data-harvesting capabilities. The range of obtained information can go from browsing and search history to IP addresses, geolocation, ISP, and in most cases to even include sensitive banking details.