Android: Unknown Chrome hijacker redirecting to g21news.com, no detection.

[stvvv]

Hi,   I'm experiencing a chrome hijacker on my android phone that remains after factory reset.  Malwarebytes does not detect any malware.  I only have Play store apps and nothing else fancy.  It directs to g21news.com and changes chrome custom homepage to this unless I take the space with another site, but it still redirects occasionally.  When I first factory reset my phone I think it initially redirected to firstly.com.

 

Thank you, I haven't been able to find any information about this on the web.

 

 

[mbam_mtbr]

Hi @stvvv,

On some phone models, g21news.com comes default at the default browsers (usually Chrome) homepage.  Here's how to change the homepage on Chrome:

• Settings > Homepage
• Change the Open this page to Chrome's homepage or change the g21news.com link to whatever URL you like

If you've already done this, and it keeps making the homepage g21news.com, then there could be something else going on.  What make/model of phone do you have?

Nathan

 

[mbam_mtbr]

Hi @stvvv,

I suspect you may be running a UMX phone.  If this is the case, I have a better solution posted here: 

Nathan

[Tonyc73]

Believe I found problem app that was causing g21news and lagging! Malwarebytes found app "CUSTOMIZATIONS".  I disabled app and have not once had g21news open, nor having phone lagging or freezing. Hope this helps!

[kjpportland]

I finally killed this dog after several attempts over a few months. I switched my homepage from Chrome to another search engine I like (duckduckgo.com). After doing so, my new homepage, duckduckgo.com appeared and G21news.com is now gone. I hope this takes care of it once and for all. NOTE: You can choose any search engine you want, I just chose this one.

Leave your gmail alone; the trick is: pick a new homepage other than chrome.

***It looks to me (and others) that this "G21news.com" piggybacks on to chrome and (as we have seen) plays havoc on our Android (non-Apple) phones.

 

I hope this helps. I will keep an eye on my phone and report back here.

[AdvancedSetup]

Drop using Google Chrome and switch to another browser would also correct the issue.

 

[mbam_mtbr]

59 minutes ago, kjpportland said:

I finally killed this dog after several attempts over a few months. I switched my homepage from Chrome to another search engine I like (duckduckgo.com). After doing so, my new homepage, duckduckgo.com appeared and G21news.com is now gone. I hope this takes care of it once and for all. NOTE: You can choose any search engine you want, I just chose this one.

Leave your gmail alone; the trick is: pick a new homepage other than chrome.

***It looks to me (and others) that this "G21news.com" piggybacks on to chrome and (as we have seen) plays havoc on our Android (non-Apple) phones.

 

I hope this helps. I will keep an eye on my phone and report back here.

Hi @kjpportland,

From what we can tell, the app (either Customizations or TopicNews) that cause the issue will eventually just change the homepage back to g21news.com if it is not disabled.  I created an updated post not to long ago explaining how to do this:

 

Nathan