WebSearch Adware

The WebSearch family of adware applications has, undisputedly, occupied the top spot when it comes to popularity among adware operators. The browser extensions belonging to this family are often presented to users as convenient document management tools. Office workers and even individual users could be attracted to the promises of having a simple and easy way to convert DOC files to PDFs, merge documents, etc. It should be noted that WebSearch adware extensions are mostly capable of performing advertised actions to ensure their prolonged presence on users' devices.

However, as cybersecurity analysts revealed in a report, while active on the system, the WebSearch applications also will be responsible for several intrusive and unwanted changes. First, the extensions will completely remove the current start page of the affected browser. Instead, users will be shown a site consisting of a search engine and a couple of shortcuts to third-party resources - AliExpress, Farfetch, etc. The fraudsters use affiliate links to the provided resources, so each time users click on one of them, they would be generating monetary gains for the operators of the application.

In addition, the extension also will substitute the current default search engine with a new one - search.myway.com. This dubious engine is capable of capturing and analyzing all initiated search queries. Based on the collected search data, the engine will go through its list of partner websites and actively promote the most relevant ones in the displayed results.

Examples of WebSearch adware include EasyPDFCombine, OnineMapFinder, EasyDocMerge, and more. The WebSearch extensions have been removed from the Chrome Web Store, but users should remain careful as they may encounter them in resources obtained from file-sharing platforms.