F-Secure Spyware Information Pages : Instafinder
Instafinder is a search hijacker for Internet Explorer. Instafinder directs search queries in the Internet Explorer address bar to Instafinder's web server. The software is installed without the user's knowledge and runs hidden from the user.
Instafinder is installed silently without the user's knowledge. The software is active in the background while using Internet Explorer. Instafinder hijacks failed DNS searches and regular address bar searches, for Internet Explorer, to its own webpage. In the case where a user entered URL does not exist on a server (normal 404-error), the whole URL is used as a search query to Instafinder.
Each time Internet Explorer is started, Instafinder automatically checks for updates.
Instafinder can be installed without a user's consent or knowledge. No license agreement can be found and the privacy policy does not adequately describe how collected data is handled.
Instafinder is made by Vista Interactive Media, a division of Broadspring, Inc., but the software connects to servers owned by Visicom Media, Inc. and Mirror Image Internet, Inc.
During the analysis of Instafinder, search results were always without hits. When performing an additional search from Instafinder's webpage, the user was directed to a clone of avantfind.com with the appropriate results. When using this search result page, the user is first directed through Instafinder's server, then to Overture's server (Yahoo, the search provider) and finally, to the destination page.
Write-up: Dan Nye, November 30th, 2005;
Technical Details: Stefan Lundstrom, November 30th, 2005;
Description Updated: Stefan Lundstrom, April 19, 2006;
F-Secure Corporation
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