Winnerwinner.net
Many users have been experiencing redirects to the Winnerwinner.net gambling website. While the site itself may be legit, the unwanted forced redirects and intrusive pop-ups that are promoting it are part of a threatening ad campaign. It is propagated through various PUPs (Potentially Unwanted Programs) that rely on dubious marketing techniques to sneak onto users' devices.
Having such PUPs present on your device far more than a simple annoyance. This program is not built with the highest security standards and any bugs or glitches found inside them could potentially be exploited by threat actors to gain access to the device.
The two methods that are most commonly associated with the distribution of PUPs are bundling and fake software updates. In the bundling scheme, the installation of the specific PUP is hidden as a preselected choice buried several layers deep in the installation settings of another more popular program.
Most PUPs also possess data harvesting capabilities. They can snatch the user's browsing history, conducted searches, IP address, geolocation, and even sensitive data such as banking and credit card details, and then exfiltrate them. It is strongly recommended to routinely perform scans of your device with a reputable anti-malware solution for any PUPs that might be lurking on it.
