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I have rarely used IE in the past. I just use it to test how a website looks. Today all of a sudden when I went on to open IE, it opened with a homepage that wasn't set by me. It was an address of a pornographic site. I was really shocked to see how did that happen. We have a tight security firewall all around our computers and it has really taken me by surprise.

Do you know how somebody/some malware would get to change my homepage in IE? Normally when I visit any website, if it is malwared, or unsecure, my settings won't allow me to go there. But this has absolutely given me a shocker.

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  • have you checked other browser's on your computer opening same site ,if its malware it should change all the browsers in your system(but some browsers like chrome will usually block that kind of activites)
    – BlueBerry - Vignesh4303
    Oct 1, 2012 at 11:08
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    Can you confirm that the homepage website in IE was changed? If it is still set correctly there are many possibilities as to what could be happening.
    – GdD
    Oct 1, 2012 at 12:05
  • yes exit was changed. when I went to the internet explorer settings. I saw that my homepage was set to <URL I definitely didn't select> and I had to manually type in my new address like www.google.com
    – defau1t
    Oct 1, 2012 at 12:27
  • It could be malware, more likely you left your system unlocked when you went to the can.
    – GdD
    Oct 1, 2012 at 13:42
  • There is a simple JavaScript system that lets you do that; a popup and an accidental space or enter could be all that's needed.
    – wizzwizz4
    May 18, 2016 at 17:06

1 Answer 1

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The simple answer is that any malware that exploited your computer could potentially change a browser homepage. In fact it is easier to do that than a lot of more serious exploits so this may be all it has done.

It could have been a co-worker out to cause trouble or mischief.

The problem is that aside from carrying out a bit of forensic analysis, you can't really tell out of all the possible ways this could have happened which one it actually was. Nor is it really that useful. Your browser can get to many malicious sites - many are created every minute, and if you hit one of them before your antimalware/antivirus knows about it, you can be compromised.

The downside for you is that you should consider your computer unsafe, as you don't know what else the malware has done. Time to wipe and rebuild it.

Then patch it up to date, check your firewall and Antivirus solutions, change your passwords and just chalk it up to experience.

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  • Also note that having changed the homepage to a (potentially) compromised website, the malware distributor now has an opportunity to try exploiting more browser flaws so they can download even worse things.
    – Iszi
    Oct 1, 2012 at 14:19
  • @Iszi - This also would be true on any browser and any platform. Java and Flash are the most popular ways to get a payload on a computer. The criminals in question are going to try dozens of exploits some platform specific and even some that apply to ALL platforms ( Android, OS X, Windows, Linux, ect ). They have entire kits designed to attack these platforms all at once.
    – Ramhound
    Oct 2, 2012 at 12:27
  • The simple answer is that any malware that exploited your computer could potentially change a browser homepage. Actually My question is how.
    – defau1t
    Oct 18, 2012 at 17:32
  • @refhat - that bit is easy. It could do it a number of ways - by altering a registry key or by emulating the actions you would take if you wanted to change it yourself etc
    – Rory Alsop ♦
    Oct 18, 2012 at 23:43

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