How PC Virus Protection Help to Deal with Push Notifications Malware?
Most browsers, websites, and even mobile apps have been using a new form of marketing called push notifications. This strategy, however, has a knack for overdoing it through countless pop-ups and tabs that will force you to see what products and services they offer.
A few years ago, a person can easily click and link they deemed interesting, open a page, and read or watch the information. But now, there are tons of security and data privacy modes to ensure like accepting cookies or a GDPR agreement and about 10 clicks to close all the pop-ups and ads that continuously appear whenever you open a new tab.
This may seem as just another annoying marketing scheme, but it should actually be a cause of alarm. Push notifications become troubling when they carry dangerous malware that needs the attention of PC virus protection. Cyber criminals nowadays hide malware in push notifications to flood ads or aid hackers in stealing you private data and steal your money.
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Serious Concerns about Malware in Push Notifications
Just this year, a new form of Android Trojan malware was putting serious pressure on mobile phone users by bombarding them with malware-induced ads called Android.FakeApp.174. This malware was able to spread its virus by multiple fake apps imitating legit apps. While the Google App Store was able to take a few dozens, it was too late because the infection had already spread.
Eventually, the push notifications was able to take over user’s phones. The malware corrupted the system of their phones that no bandwidth remained for using the device for any regular activity.
This type of advertising attack is a typical characteristic of malware-infected campaigns. When you think about it, these ads doesn’t have any plans of convincing you to avail the products and services – its main purpose is to cheat their way into hacking your system and make money with their unstoppable spam.
How to Remove Push Notifications in Browsers?
While not all push notifications carry malware, it is best if you create a strong security system just in case you encounter a malvertisement. If the push notifications that you have encountered seemed suspicious, there’s a way to remove it permanently.
If you are using Google Chrome, go to Settings > content > notifications (or simple copy-paste this link into the browser address: chrome://settings/content/notifications?search=notifications). Doing this will reveal a list of websites that you have allowed to send push notifications and those websites that you have blocked from sending you one. If you want to remove one or even multiple sites, simply click the vertical dots bar and select ‘remove’.
The process is almost the same for Mozilla Firefox. Simply follow the first step and then select a No Notifications default option to permanently ban push notifications from popping up.
Make sure to keep only a short list of websites from which you accept push notifications. A few of your favorites should be good and if you’re interested to see updates from the other websites, you can just do it manually.
If you want to know if the push notifications you are receiving are malware-infected, watch out for these signs:
- Ads appear in places like your desktop, even when your browser is closed
- The browser home page changes by itself
- The websites you used to visit without issues are now taking time to load
- You get pop-ups which are advertising updates that doesn’t exist in the market
Unfortunately, every malware is different, and there is no easy solution for all types since there are different types of malware today. The most effective solution for this problem is to check your browser’s list of allowed push notifications and disable everything, just to be safe. Also, don’t forget to clean your PC with professional anti-malware software like Comodo Internet Security. It proves to be a fitting partner when it comes to securing users from various digital threats. It provides various tools to combat multiple threats that pose a danger to their digital resources.
Final Thoughts
To keep your browsing experience as clean as possible, it’s best to install the best PC virus protection – Comodo Internet Security. Apart from that, make sure that you regularly check your list of websites from which you accept push notifications. Push notifications are not that bad, you’ll just need to be more careful in choosing ads. If you’re interested to see updates from the other portals, you can always enter them at your own pace.
Stay safe and don’t hesitate to leave a comment if you have a question or some experience with push notifications worth sharing.
