Opera VPN redirect to Browser Hijacker searchguide.level3

[cicciocanestro]

cicciocanestro last edited by

I have a fritz.box router that can be accessed through the HTTP address fritz.box . If I try to access the above address with vpn opera enabled I'm redirected to this page, which is a known Browser Hijacker :
http://searchguide.level3.com/search/?q=http%3A//fritz.box/&r=&t=0

I did all the checks with malwarebyte and antivirus and my computer looks clean

[leocg]

leocg Moderator Volunteer last edited by

As there is no DNS record for fritz.box, the DNS server is redirecting you to a/its search page.

[sgunhouse]

sgunhouse Moderator Volunteer last edited by

As the VPN is a proxy, you will not be able to access local addresses like a router while using it.

[A Former User]

A Former User last edited by

Not sure about how the Fritz works with a VPN. I would second Sgunhouse's opinion. I don't think you can access local addresses to reach a router in simple terms. If you are concerned about malware, below are the steps, but I would try connecting to your local router with the VPN turned off.

1. Check your browser for any add-ons or extensions you do not recognize and remove them.
2. Check your installed programs and see if there isn't anything suspicious that was installed lately (If there is, simply remove them).
3. Install any popular antivirus and do a quick scan (Majority of the providers do have free versions of their software). Or just use Windows Defender. It works well in most cases.
4. Install and scan your PC with Malwarebytes and Hitman Pro to clean most adware.

After this, in most cases, the issues of malware should be solved. If it doesn't work, sometimes Windows has a hard time removing the malware in normal mode, if that is the case, restart Windows in "Safe mode with networking." And try the following steps again.

[cicciocanestro]

cicciocanestro last edited by

I did all this but did not solve it. I think the problem is not in my pc but in the opera vpn. Anyone else can try?

[leocg]

leocg Moderator Volunteer last edited by

I think the problem is not in my pc but in the opera vpn

The problem is that you are using the VPN to access an address that doesn't exist outside of your local network. So the DNS server used by the VPN is redirecting you to its search page, like I said.

[blackbird71]

blackbird71 last edited by

@cicciocanestro, a computer system isn't a solid entity, but a collection of modules that communicate with each other (as well as with the outside world). To do that for some of its local and connected modules, the OS maintains a list of 'local IP' addresses that are used by the system for directing data to each of those modules. Ordinarily, the OS intercepts all attempts to access these local IP addresses and automatically routes the data stream to the correct module as appropriate. In the case of browsers as normally used, this potential interception also occurs and the OS routes local IP access attempts directly to the appropriate local modules instead of going out onto the Internet - including intercepting your Internet router's IP access number.

However, when you use Opera's VPN, the attempt to access a local IP address from within the browser instead is specially encoded and sent directly to the VPN server for routing data to the appropriate destination, just as all VPN address accessing attempts are encoded and sent to it. That prevents the system from automatically intercepting the local IP address and therby routing it locally. Unfortunately, Opera's VPN server has no ability to route the local IP data further since local addresses exist only on the local system and are essentially unknown and unpublished outside of it. Consequently, the access attempt through the VPN fails.

[cicciocanestro]

cicciocanestro last edited by

Yes of course. But the problem is that it redirect to a browser Hijacker. Why? Opera VPN is infect?

[leocg]

leocg Moderator Volunteer last edited by

But the problem is that it redirect to a browser Hijacker.

Why? Did it hijacked anything in your browser?

Redirecting to a search page is something that some public DNS servers do when no record is found for the typed address. OpenDNS does it for example.

[A Former User]

A Former User last edited by

It is redirected to anything it can get its hands on. Sometimes it might be browser hijackers pages. Your DNS requests can just hang there until the proper one is found. As Leocg said, OpenDNS and many others use the same practice.