A malicious Firefox extension called FirestarterFox is being installed by some of the latest malware variants. This extension hijacks all search requests through Google, Yahoo and Microsoft Live search and redirects them through the Russian site thebestwebsearch.net. This is done with the intention of showing ads on the search results page which presumably make money for the creator of this piece of malware.
Luckily the extension can’t be silently installed since Firefox alerts users to all new extensions. So if you ever start Firefox and get the message that a new extension called FirestarterFox has been installed you will immediately know that you have malware on your system and should take steps to remove it or reformat your system.
September 26, 2008 at 2:58 pm |
[...] can go to this Blog and read about it. The add-in is Firestarterfox, and apparently finds a way to install itself [...]
September 26, 2008 at 3:37 pm |
The malware that installs the extension… is it limited to any OS? Windows perhaps? Or is it a equal opportunity infecter?
September 26, 2008 at 3:51 pm |
The malware we’ve seen install this currently only runs on Windows. The extension however is not tied to the Windows platform so could conceivably run on Firefox under Linux or other platforms as well.