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Beware of Safety Search by Safely

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I was doing a google search this morning and up pops an interface telling me that Firefox recommends that I install the addon, Safety Search by Safely. I'd never heard of it before, but I figured since FF recommended it, I went ahead and followed the steps to install it, making it my default search engine. Even though I already have Don't Track Me Google, I thought Mozilla came up with a better tracking blocker than the Don't Track Me Google addon that I already have been using.

Once installed, however, I entered a search term in the URL bar, and I discovered that instead of Google being my default search engine, my search engine was now Yahoo, and I realized that I got duped by malware. Doing a search on Google for Safety Search by Safely or their website, "safety-center.net," I get no results that reveal that people at large are aware of this malware's current incarnation existence as malware yet.

I was doing a google search this morning and up pops an interface telling me that Firefox recommends that I install the addon, Safety Search by Safely. I'd never heard of it before, but I figured since FF recommended it, I went ahead and followed the steps to install it, making it my default search engine. Even though I already have Don't Track Me Google, I thought Mozilla came up with a better tracking blocker than the Don't Track Me Google addon that I already have been using. Once installed, however, I entered a search term in the URL bar, and I discovered that instead of Google being my default search engine, my search engine was now Yahoo, and I realized that I got duped by malware. Doing a search on Google for Safety Search by Safely or their website, "safety-center.net," I get no results that reveal that people at large are aware of this malware's current incarnation existence as malware yet.

All Replies (3)

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Hello seacleer, Thank you for letting everyone know.

Did you run into any trouble removing it?


I always check out extensions at the Add-ons site - https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/ And, also at the Blocked Add-ons site - https://blocked.cdn.mozilla.net/ before considering installing them.

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I removed it via the Extensions page, and that's all that seems to be needed.

I thought that there would be files scattered on my computer, but I haven't found any yet.

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That's good news.

If you're concerned at all, there are some recommended scan tools in this article: Troubleshoot Firefox issues caused by malware https://support.mozilla.org/en-US/kb/troubleshoot-firefox-issues-caused-malware?cache=no

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