Secure Way browser extension (virus)

What is Secure Way browser extension?

Secure Way is a browser hijacker that can read data on your visited websites

Secure Way can change your default search engine

Secure Way is a browser hijacker^[1] capable of manipulating your search engine. It changes your homepage to a different one and alters your default search provider. Add-ons like this can be distributed on trustworthy web stores such as “Chrome Web Store” by making it seem that it adds a lot of value for the user when in reality, it gives little to no benefit. Adding this extension to your browser makes it vulnerable to unwanted modifications.

Browser extensions can be very useful for surfing the web, making tasks that normally require more time get achieved quicker. On the other hand, some browser additions can be malicious – they can read personal information such as passwords or credit cards.

Some can change important settings inside your search engine and send collected data back to developers, advertisers, or third parties without you knowing. Nonetheless, most browser hijackers only read non-personal information – this might also be a certain privacy breach, however.

The main objective of hijackers is to make the extension look as appealing as possible so that people would willingly add it to their browser themselves. Then hopefully, after downloading the add-on, the user will grant the application a variety of different permissions. Without reading them, users might not realize they had let Secure Way change their search settings to search.secureway.club. From that point on, many people might be confused when suddenly their default search engine becomes a different one.

Generally, a browser extension is not malicious in itself. Google Chrome alerts users about changes being made to the browser and they can decline or change settings at any time. However, some users might not fully understand these alterations and accept permissions without really looking into them.

Different ways users get their browsers hijacked by extensions

Sometimes it can be difficult for people to identify their browser has been hijacked. Malware could be running in the background without their knowledge. Fraudsters can try to redirect users to advertiser sites where they receive revenue for generating clicks and they might look like normal pop-up ads.

Often, this results from the “privacy paradox”^[2] – an inconsistency between people having deep concerns about their privacy and their actual behavior and steps taken to ensure that privacy. According to research, people are actually quite careless about internet safety even though they think they care a lot. Most people do not read the privacy policies of software they download and skip through the installation process without checking any information.

Apart from that, malicious browser extensions can be downloaded by visiting shady websites, clicking on fake update links, or software bundling.^[3] In most cases, this happens when a user wants to download free software from third-party distributors and rushes through the installation process. It is important to check all files included in the package as some of them might not be necessary.

We are not trying to discourage you from getting browser extensions but you should definitely make sure the ones you use are safe.

If you want to remove an unwanted extension from Google Chrome manually follow the instructions posted down below.

Delete from Chrome

1. Open Google Chrome, click on the Menu (three vertical dots at the top-right corner) and select More tools > Extensions.
2. In the newly opened window, you will see all the installed extensions. Uninstall all the suspicious plugins that might be related to the unwanted program by clicking Remove.

Clear cache and web data from Chrome:

1. Click on Menu and pick Settings.
2. Under Privacy and security, select Clear browsing data.
3. Select Browsing history, Cookies and other site data, as well as Cached images and files.
4. Click Clear data.

Delete from Mozilla Firefox

1. Open Mozilla Firefox browser and click on the Menu (three horizontal lines at the top-right of the window).
2. Select Add-ons.
3. In here, select unwanted plugin and click Remove.

Reset the homepage:

1. Click three horizontal lines at the top right corner to open the menu.
2. Choose Options.
3. Under Home options, enter your preferred site that will open every time you newly open the Mozilla Firefox.

The instructions for other web browsers can be found at the bottom of this post

Making sure your browser add-on is safe

There are ways you can prevent your browser from being hijacked that are not particularly difficult. You can protect your personal data by taking precautionary measures.

• Always take the time to do some research on the add-on you want. Check if it is not out-of-date, as older tools can be not as secure as new ones.
• Definitely identify if the extension comes from a reputable source such as “Google Web Store” or “Firefox Browser Add-ons”. That doesn't mean that browser add-ons coming from unknown developers are all malicious, but you should be more careful with them. Be wary of requests that seem unreasonable considering what the add-on supposedly should be providing.
• Update your browsers regularly, often developers release patches to fix bugs or eliminate software vulnerabilities.

Automatic removal and remediation options

If you want to remove the Secure Way search engine add-on go to your browser settings and eliminate it manually. If you do not understand how to do it, the removal can be performed automatically so you don’t have to worry about correctly performing the removal steps – use SpyHunter 5Combo Cleaner or another reputable security app. You can perform a full system scan quickly.

Cleaning web browsers is extremely important, so if the above-mentioned steps are too complicated for you, you can instead employ FortectIntego for the job. Besides, the app can also fix malware-caused damage and Windows errors for your convenience.

You may remove virus damage with a help of FortectIntego. SpyHunter 5Combo Cleaner and Malwarebytes are recommended to detect potentially unwanted programs and viruses with all their files and registry entries that are related to them.