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Redirect virus on Safari and FB

M

MomMom1012

macrumors member
Original poster
Oct 17, 2014
65
10
I keep getting redirected in Safari and when clicking (legitimate) links on FB. I've tried every remedy I can find online but it keeps happening on my phone and iPad. Anyone have suggestions to make it stop?

If it matters, it usually sends me to maxonclick, goo.com or something like that.
 
I did, a million times. I'm on iOS 10.0.2 and about half the sites I go to redirect. It's maddening.
 
MomMom1012 said:
I keep getting redirected in Safari and when clicking (legitimate) links on FB. I've tried every remedy I can find online but it keeps happening on my phone and iPad. Anyone have suggestions to make it stop?

If it matters, it usually sends me to maxonclick, goo.com or something like that.
Click to expand...
Are you using Facebook in Safari or using the Facebook app? Does this only happen on WiFi or on cellular/mobile?
 
Your browser is being hijacked.
  • Turn on Airplane mode
  • Press HOME once; wait a couple of seconds, and double-press HOME
  • Scroll to Safari and flick the screen image up to kill the Safari app
  • Press HOME
  • Go to Settings/Safari, scroll down, and tap Clear History and Website Data
  • Press HOME
  • Reboot the phone by holding HOME and SLEEP at the same time until an Apple logo appears
  • Turn off Airplane mode
 
Ulenspiegel said:
Your browser is being hijacked.
  • Turn on Airplane mode
  • Press HOME once; wait a couple of seconds, and double-press HOME
  • Scroll to Safari and flick the screen image up to kill the Safari app
  • Press HOME
  • Go to Settings/Safari, scroll down, and tap Clear History and Website Data
  • Press HOME
  • Reboot the phone by holding HOME and SLEEP at the same time until an Apple logo appears
  • Turn off Airplane mode
Click to expand...

I swear, I'm not an idiot. I've rebooted iPhone a million times but I can't get it to work now. I just got the 7 (upgraded from 6) so maybe I'm not doing something right with the new home button? It just keeps taking screenshots.

C DM said:
Are you using Facebook in Safari or using the Facebook app? Does this only happen on WiFi or on cellular/mobile?
Click to expand...

I'm using th FB app. I'm on wifi 99% of the time. It's happening at work and home, both are password protected networks.
 
MomMom1012 said:
I swear, I'm not an idiot. I've rebooted iPhone a million times but I can't get it to work now. I just got the 7 (upgraded from 6) so maybe I'm not doing something right with the new home button? It just keeps taking screenshots.



I'm using th FB app. I'm on wifi 99% of the time. It's happening at work and home, both are password protected networks.
Click to expand...
So it's not really in Safari that's it's happening in but within the Facebook app essentially (since typically it loads links within the app itself)? Perhaps try uninstalling and reinstalling the Facebook app?

As for resetting on iPhone 7 line of phones, you have to use the volume down button instead of the home button to reset.
 
Ok I figure out how to reboot. With the 7, you have to hold the wake and down volume buttons.

The whole fix didn't work though. Could it be my wifi network? I'm not entirely sure if it happens at work, I can't remember. It happened to my moms iPad when she was here this weekend though.
[doublepost=1475533010][/doublepost]
C DM said:
So it's not really in Safari that's it's happening in but within the Facebook app essentially (since typically it loads links within the app itself)? Perhaps try uninstalling and reinstalling the Facebook app?

As for resetting on iPhone 7 line of phones, you have to use the volume down button instead of the home button to reset.
Click to expand...

It's happening in both the FB app when I tap certain links and it's also happening in Safari when I click search results or when I go directly to certain websites. It doesn't happen all the time with every site or link.

I just turned off wifi and it's still doing it on cellular.
 
MomMom1012 said:
Ok I figure out how to reboot. With the 7, you have to hold the wake and down volume buttons.

The whole fix didn't work though. Could it be my wifi network? I'm not entirely sure if it happens at work, I can't remember. It happened to my moms iPad when she was here this weekend though.
[doublepost=1475533010][/doublepost]

It's happening in both the FB app when I tap certain links and it's also happening in Safari when I click search results or when I go directly to certain websites. It doesn't happen all the time with every site or link.

I just turned off wifi and it's still doing it on cellular.
Click to expand...
Maybe it's the particular links you are going to?

Try clearing out Safari again and restarting and not using WiFi. Also perhaps check the Safari setting in iCloud and perhaps disable it if it's enabled to see if that changes anything. You can potentially even try resetting network settings to see if that might have some effect.
 
I disabled Safari in iCloud and it's not redirecting on wifi or cellular! It's a miracle! Now that it's disabled, does that mean it won't sync updated bookmarks?

It's still redirecting via FB links though.
 
I have had this same issue. I think it might have to do with the sites themselves. I know on my MacBook Air sites like nj.com (star ledger of nj) always filled with spammy pop ups
 
It is possible your internet router has been hacked and had the DNS servers changed. Read more here: https://blog.malwarebytes.com/cybercrime/2015/12/dns-hijacks-routers/

To get around temporarily you manually set your DNS servers in the wifi settings of the iPad / iPhone to 8.8.8.8 (Google's dns servers)

Since this is happening across multiple devices and the common link is most likely your wifi I think this would be a good place to start.
 
joeyalex said:
It is possible your internet router has been hacked and had the DNS servers changed. Read more here: https://blog.malwarebytes.com/cybercrime/2015/12/dns-hijacks-routers/

To get around temporarily you manually set your DNS servers in the wifi settings of the iPad / iPhone to 8.8.8.8 (Google's dns servers)

Since this is happening across multiple devices and the common link is most likely your wifi I think this would be a good place to start.
Click to expand...
Seems like it is happening on cellular too (which was part of why the questions about different WiFi networks and using cellular were brought up before), which seems to make this kind of unlikely in that kind of a scenario.
 
C DM said:
Seems like it is happening on cellular too (which was part of why the questions about different WiFi networks and using cellular were brought up before), which seems to make this kind of unlikely in that kind of a scenario.
Click to expand...
Could be cached from when WiFi was on. OP, try this:
Turn WiFi off, then turn airplane mode on for 10-15 seconds, then turn airplane mode off and leave WiFi off. Try browsing on cellular only and see what happens. If it still does it, reboot and leave WiFi off and see what happens.

The fact that it started happening on mom's iPad when she visited but not before makes me think something is up with the WiFi connection. Unless they are on the same iCloud account or something.
 
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I had this problem a while ago on my 5s .. I'm pretty sure I did similar to what Ulenspiegel suggested, clearing browser history etc and then rebooting to fix it.
 
Safari seems to be fixed (icloud setting remains off) but I'm still redirecting via FB links (legitimate sites like NBC Nightly News, Scary Mommy, my local news site) on both wifi and cellular.

I do think it's weird that it happened to my mom's ipad. She wasn't having problems until she came to my house. I'll try resetting the DNS server settings.
 
MomMom1012 said:
Safari seems to be fixed (icloud setting remains off) but I'm still redirecting via FB links (legitimate sites like NBC Nightly News, Scary Mommy, my local news site) on both wifi and cellular.

I do think it's weird that it happened to my mom's ipad. She wasn't having problems until she came to my house. I'll try resetting the DNS server settings.
Click to expand...
Odd that it would be happening on cellular as DNS settings related to a WiFi network wouldn't be in use.
 
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