Android Google hijack

[Celly]

Hi,

Recently, I clicked on a website that I soon recognised was compromised and it seems since then, the Google favicons on my android sometimes randomly change to the 1web/iweb(?) one pictured.

It doesn't redirect my webpage and nothing else seems affected. I can't see any random apps that have been installed and I've cleared my cache and data from the last few days. Malwarebytes and AVG also aren't picking up any issues.

Does anyone recognise the logo and know what it is, or have advice for how to remove it? I'm mainly concerned about it being able to monitor my internet activity and stealing information.

Grateful for any help. Thanks 

[mbam_mtbr]

Hi @Celly,

I would just close out those tabs.  It just shows what you've recently visited, so unless you click on them again to open, you should be safe.

Nathan

[Celly]

Hi @mbam_mtbr,

Thanks for your reply. The image still appears any time I close and open a new tab or window and go on Google. Could it just be a cosmetic hack showcasing some software's brand over Google's one?

Is there a way to remove it if this is the case?

Thanks

[mbam_mtbr]

Hi @Celly,

Lets try this. First, clear your history and cache within the Chrome app (sounds like you have already done this step).  In addition, clear the Storage & Cache within the Chrome's App Info itself also helps:

 

1. Go to Settings > App Info
2. Go to your browser app icon in App info list (such as Chrome) and click on it
3. Once in your browser’s App info, go to Storage & cache
   1. Click Clear Storage
   2. Click Clear cache

Nathan

[Celly]

Thanks @mbam_mtbr,

I couldn't see an option to clear storage but there was an option to clear data. I think it would remove all my stored information such as bookmarks and things. Is this the option you mean? Or should I log out of my Google account first so it doesn't affect this?

[mbam_mtbr]

Hi @Celly,

I do not believe that it will remove bookmarks as that would be tied to your Google account in the cloud.  It would just clear data for the Chrome app.

Is there a MANAGE SPACE button instead?  You could click that then go to MANAGE and see if you can clear the individual sites data.  Or, just do CLEAR ALL DATA if all else fails.

Nathan

[Celly]

Hi @mbam_mtbr,

I've cleared storage data and also selected the 'all data stores by sites' option. The remaining option is to choose 'Clear all data' which it says will clear all data used by Chrome including account, bookmarks and web settings. Though I think this would just be mobile bookmarks, which is fine.

So far, doing the first two seems to have cleared the problem as I've waited for a while and can't see the problem favicon appearing anymore. If it does appear again, I'll give the total data clear option a try and hopefully that does sort it.

Thanks a lot for your help!