There is a new AV threat that is making the rounds. It is called Bikiniland.

Bikiniland is a browser hijacker which takes control of browsers including Internet Explorer, Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox. Once installed, it will change the browser’s default settings including homepage, default search engine and default DNS setting. Then it will take the place the homepage without permission and hijack the default search engine with the aim of redirecting your search results to sponsored sites. Additionally, when you open a new tad or click a link, you may get redirected to www.Bikiniland automatically.

Once installed, Bikiniland add some codes to the browser so that pop-up ads and new advertising tabs from Bikiniland can appear constantly whenever you launch a browser to surf the Internet. These pop-up ads, new tabs, advertising banners are used to promote certain software/products for the purpose of making money. The software/products promoted by these ads are normally useless or fake, if you click on these ads and buy the products, you will not only lost your money but also bring more threats to your computer because some of the ads are malicious. What’s more, it is also capable of tracking your browsing history to collect confidential personal information. Then sensitive information like email address, password, credit card details will be sent to cyber criminals and used for illegal purposes. Furthermore, it takes up a large amount of CPU usage which will drag down the PC performance.

Bikiniland usually comes bundled with free download, so please read before you click through installation settings and always choose Custom or Advance options during the installation of software  to determine if there is any unwanted programs that could install together with the freeware.