Stop Breaking News Hub from hijacking your browser

What is Breaking News Hub?

Breaking News Hub is a browser hijacker, endorsed as an application for accessing news sources with an additional web search tool.

It is categorized as a PUA (potentially unwanted application), due to the fact that many users install it unwillingly. Breaking News Hub operates by altering browser settings, promoting its fake search engine (search.breakingnewshubtab.com) and also tracking users' browsing habits.

The most popular browsers (Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox and Internet Explorer) are usually what browser hijackers are designed for. Once successfully infiltrated, they change browser settings, such as: new tab/window URL, homepage and default search engine.

In other words, every new tab/window opened and every search query typed into the URL bar - all redirect to the browser hijacker's fake search engine. In some cases they can cause redirection chains, which may end in a legitimate search engine.

In case of Breaking News Hub, said settings are changed into search.breakingnewshubtab.com; however this fake search engine does not provide any search results on its own, it simply redirects to search.yahoo.com - a legitimate search engine. Breaking News Hub also has data tracking abilities.

By monitoring browsing activity, it can find traces of users' personal information. What is vital to understand, is that this info is then passed onto third parties (possibly, cyber criminals), intent on misusing it in order to generate profit. It is also noteworthy that this rogue application is often distributed alongside Hide My Searches app, which is likewise a PUA.

Unwanted applications can cause serious problems, e.g. lead to browser and system invasions/infections, as well as privacy issues (even culminate in identity theft). Therefore, all PUAs must be removed immediately, in order to ensure device and user safety.

Threat Summary:

Name	Breaking News Hub
Threat Type	Browser Hijacker, Redirect, Search Hijacker, Toolbar, Unwanted New Tab
Browser Extension(s)	Breaking News Hub, News
Supposed Functionality	This browser hijacker claims to provide users with access to various news websites.
Promoted URL	search.breakingnewshubtab.com
Serving IP Address (search.breakingnewshubtab.com)	34.206.62.241
Affected Browser Settings	Homepage, new tab URL, default search engine
Symptoms	Manipulated Internet browser(s) settings (homepage, default Internet search engine, new tab settings). User's are forced to visit hijacker's website and search the Internet using their search engines.
Additional Information	Breaking News Hub is distributed alongside with another browser hijacker called Hide My Searches.
Distribution methods	Deceptive pop-up ads, free software installers (bundling), fake flash player installers.
Damage	Internet browsing tracking (potential privacy issues), displaying of unwanted ads, redirects to shady websites.
Malware Removal (Windows)	To eliminate possible malware infections, scan your computer with legitimate antivirus software. Our security researchers recommend using Combo Cleaner. ▼ Download Combo Cleaner To use full-featured product, you have to purchase a license for Combo Cleaner. 7 days free trial available. Combo Cleaner is owned and operated by Rcs Lt, the parent company of PCRisk.com read more.

Most browser hijackers share certain similarities, however some PUA developers have released identical applications. Breaking News Hub share many common traits with Maps Utility, Your Streaming TV Now, Get TV Easy and many others. Often undesirable apps offer "useful" and "advantageous" features, to lure as many users as possible into downloading/installing them.

However the features they advertise, rarely operate as promised, if they are functional at all. It is essential to understand, that PUAs serve only one purpose - to bring revenue for their developers; to users they are worthless.

Instead of working as advertised, they promote fake search engines, cause redirects to sale-oriented, untrustworthy and malicious websites, run intrusive advert campaigns (pop-ups, banners, coupons, etc.), as well as monitor/gather sensitive user information.

How did Breaking News Hub install on my computer?

Breaking News Hub is offered to download from its official website. It can also spread through install pack/bundles; installed by users themselves alongside desired software. "Bundling" is a deceitful marketing tactic, by which ordinary programs are packed together with PUAs.

By rushing through the installation process (e.g. ignoring terms and possible options, skipping steps, using pre-set settings) - users can easily miss the presence of unwanted apps or seeing no opt-out options, deeming them harmless and allowing the additions onto their device.

It must be repeated, that these applications are only designed to look useful and innocuous, in fact they are not. Another cause of PUA invasions are intrusive ads, which when clicked can execute scripts, designed to autonomously download/install these rogue apps.

How to avoid installation of potentially unwanted applications?

It is highly recommended to use only official and trustworthy sources for all software downloads (preferably, using direct download links). Using peer-to-peer sharing networks and other third party downloaders is strongly advised against, as untrustworthy sources are more likely to contain bundled programs.

When installing, users should pay attention to terms and possible options, use "Custom/Advanced" settings and opt-out/decline installing/downloading additional applications and/or features. Prudent browsing is encouraged; i.e. avoiding suspicious websites and advertisements.

The latter must be emphasized, as intrusive advertisements tend to appear utterly ordinary. However, a telltale sign of their inauthenticity can be the sites they redirect to (e.g. pornography, gambling, adult-dating and so on).

Should users encounter such ads/redirects, they are recommended to check their system and remove any dubious applications and/or browser extensions/plug-ins. If your computer is already infected with Breaking News Hub, we recommend running a scan with Combo Cleaner Antivirus for Windows to automatically eliminate this browser hijacker.

List of permissions that Breaking News Hub gets if added to a browser:

Breaking News Hub browser hijacker installer set-up:

Website promoting Breaking News Hub browser hijacker:

IMPORTANT NOTE! This deceptive site asks to enable web browser notifications:

Therefore, before commencing, perform these steps:

Google Chrome (PC):

• Click the Menu button (three dots) on the right upper corner of the screen
• Select "Settings", scroll down to the bottom and click "Advanced"
• Scroll down to the "Privacy and security" section, select "Content settings" and then "Notifications"
• Click three dots on the right hand side of each suspicious URL and click "Block" or "Remove" (if you click "Remove" and visit the malicious site once more, it will ask to enable notifications again)

Google Chrome (Android):

• Click on the Menu button (three dots) on the right upper corner of the screen and click "Settings"
• Scroll down, click on "Site settings" and then "Notifications"
• In the opened window, locate all suspicious URLs and click on them one-by-one
• Select "Notifications" in the "Permissions" section and set the toggle button to "OFF"

Mozilla Firefox:

• Click the Menu button (three bars) on the right upper corner of the screen
• Select "Options" and click on "Privacy & Security" in the toolbar on the left hand side of the screen
• Scroll down to the "Permissions" section and click the "Settings" button next to "Notifications"
• In the opened window, locate all suspicious URLs, click the drop-down menu and select "Block"

Internet Explorer:

• Click the Gear button on the right upper corner of the IE window
• Select "Internet options"
• Select the "Privacy" tab and click "Settings" under "Pop-up Blocker" section
• Select suspicious URLs under and remove them one by one by clicking the "Remove" button

Microsoft Edge:

• Click the menu button (three dots) on the right upper corner of the Edge window
• Scroll down, find and click "Settings"
• Scroll down again and click "View advanced settings"
• Click "Manage" under "Website permissions"
• Click the switch under each suspicious website

Safari (Mac):

• Click "Safari" button on the left upper corner of the screen and select "Preferences..."
• Select the "Websites" tab and then select "Notifications" section on the left pane
• Check for suspicious URLs and apply the "Deny" option for each

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Quick menu:

• What is Breaking News Hub?
• STEP 1. Uninstall Breaking News Hub application using Control Panel.
• STEP 2. Remove search.breakingnewshubtab.com redirect from Internet Explorer.
• STEP 3. Remove Breaking News Hub browser hijacker from Google Chrome.
• STEP 4. Remove search.breakingnewshubtab.com homepage and default search engine from Mozilla Firefox.
• STEP 5. Remove search.breakingnewshubtab.com redirect from Safari.
• STEP 6. Remove rogue plug-ins from Microsoft Edge.

Breaking News Hub browser hijacker removal:

Windows 11 users:

Right-click on the Start icon, select Apps and Features. In the opened window search for the application you want to uninstall, after locating it, click on the three vertical dots and select Uninstall.

Windows 10 users:

Right-click in the lower left corner of the screen, in the Quick Access Menu select Control Panel. In the opened window choose Programs and Features.

Windows 7 users:

Click Start (Windows Logo at the bottom left corner of your desktop), choose Control Panel. Locate Programs and click Uninstall a program.

macOS (OSX) users:

Click Finder, in the opened screen select Applications. Drag the app from the Applications folder to the Trash (located in your Dock), then right click the Trash icon and select Empty Trash.

In the uninstall programs window: look for any recently installed suspicious applications (for example, "Breaking News Hub"), select these entries and click "Uninstall" or "Remove".

After uninstalling the potentially unwanted applications (which cause browser redirects to the search.breakingnewshubtab.com website), scan your computer for any remaining unwanted components. To scan your computer, use recommended malware removal software.

Breaking News Hub browser hijacker removal from Internet browsers:

Video showing how to remove browser redirects:

Remove malicious add-ons from Internet Explorer:

Click the "gear" icon (at the top right corner of Internet Explorer), select "Manage Add-ons". Look for any recently installed suspicious extensions, select these entries and click "Remove".

Change your homepage:

Click the "gear" icon (at the top right corner of Internet Explorer), select "Internet Options", in the opened window remove hxxp://search.breakingnewshubtab.com and enter your preferred domain, which will open each time you launch Internet Explorer. You can also enter about: blank to open a blank page when you start Internet Explorer.

Change your default search engine:

Click the "gear" icon (at the top right corner of Internet Explorer), select "Manage Add-ons". In the opened window, select "Search Providers", set "Google", "Bing", or any other preferred search engine as your default and then remove "Breaking News Hub".

Optional method:

If you continue to have problems with removal of the search.breakingnewshubtab.com redirect, reset your Internet Explorer settings to default.

Windows XP users: Click Start, click Run, in the opened window type inetcpl.cpl In the opened window click the Advanced tab, then click Reset.

Windows Vista and Windows 7 users: Click the Windows logo, in the start search box type inetcpl.cpl and click enter. In the opened window click the Advanced tab, then click Reset.

Windows 8 users: Open Internet Explorer and click the gear icon. Select Internet Options.

In the opened window, select the Advanced tab.

Click the Reset button.

Confirm that you wish to reset Internet Explorer settings to default by clicking the Reset button.

Remove malicious extensions from Google Chrome:

Click the Chrome menu icon  (at the top right corner of Google Chrome), select "More tools" and click "Extensions". Locate "Breaking News Hub" and other recently-installed suspicious browser add-ons (e.g., "Hide My Searches"), and remove them.

Change your homepage:

Click the Chrome menu icon  (at the top right corner of Google Chrome), select "Settings". In the "On startup" section, disable "Breaking News Hub" or "Hide My Searches", look for a browser hijacker URL (hxxp://search.breakingnewshubtab.com or hxxps://hidemysearches.com) below the “Open a specific or set of pages” option. If present click on the three vertical dots icon and select “Remove”.

Change your default search engine:

To change your default search engine in Google Chrome: Click the Chrome menu icon  (at the top right corner of Google Chrome), select "Settings", in the "Search engine" section, click "Manage search engines...", in the opened list look for "hxxp://search.breakingnewshubtab.com" and "hxxp://hidemysearches.com", when located click the three vertical dots near this URL and select "Remove from list".

Optional method:

If you continue to have problems with removal of the search.breakingnewshubtab.com redirect, reset your Google Chrome browser settings. Click the Chrome menu icon  (at the top right corner of Google Chrome) and select Settings. Scroll down to the bottom of the screen. Click the Advanced… link.

After scrolling to the bottom of the screen, click the Reset (Restore settings to their original defaults) button.

In the opened window, confirm that you wish to reset Google Chrome settings to default by clicking the Reset button.

Remove malicious plugins from Mozilla Firefox:

Click the Firefox menu (at the top right corner of the main window), select "Add-ons". Click on "Extensions" and remove "Breaking News Hub" (or simply "News"), as well as all other recently installed browser plug-ins (e.g., "Hide My Searches").

Change your homepage:

To reset your homepage, click the Firefox menu (at the top right corner of the main window), then select "Options", in the opened window disable "Breaking News Hub" (or simply "News") or "Hide My Searches", remove hxxp://search.breakingnewshubtab.com or hxxp://hidemysearches.com and enter your preferred domain, which will open each time you start Mozilla Firefox.

Change your default search engine:

In the URL address bar, type about:config and press Enter.
Click "I'll be careful, I promise!".
In the search filter at the top, type: "moz-extension"
Right-click on the found preferences and select "Reset" to restore default values.

Optional method:

Computer users who have problems with search.breakingnewshubtab.com redirect removal can reset their Mozilla Firefox settings.

Open Mozilla Firefox, at the top right corner of the main window, click the Firefox menu, in the opened menu, click Help.

Select Troubleshooting Information.

In the opened window, click the Refresh Firefox button.

In the opened window, confirm that you wish to reset Mozilla Firefox settings to default by clicking the Refresh Firefox button.

Remove malicious extensions from Safari:

Make sure your Safari browser is active and click Safari menu, then select Preferences...

In the preferences window select the Extensions tab. Look for any recently installed suspicious extensions and uninstall them.

In the preferences window select General tab and make sure that your homepage is set to a preferred URL, if its altered by a browser hijacker - change it.

In the preferences window select Search tab and make sure that your preferred Internet search engine is selected.

Optional method:

Make sure your Safari browser is active and click on Safari menu. From the drop down menu select Clear History and Website Data...

In the opened window select all history and click the Clear History button.

Remove malicious extensions from Microsoft Edge:

Click the Edge menu icon  (at the top right corner of Microsoft Edge), select "Extensions". Locate any recently-installed suspicious browser add-ons, and remove them.

Change your homepage and new tab settings:

Click the Edge menu icon  (at the top right corner of Microsoft Edge), select "Settings". In the "On startup" section look for the name of the browser hijacker and click "Disable".

Change your default Internet search engine:

To change your default search engine in Microsoft Edge: Click the Edge menu icon  (at the top right corner of Microsoft Edge), select "Privacy and services", scroll to bottom of the page and select "Address bar". In the "Search engines used in address bar" section look for the name of the unwanted Internet search engine, when located click the "Disable" button near it. Alternatively you can click on "Manage search engines", in the opened menu look for unwanted Internet search engine. Click on the puzzle icon near it and select "Disable".

Optional method:

If you continue to have problems with removal of the search.breakingnewshubtab.com redirect, reset your Microsoft Edge browser settings. Click the Edge menu icon  (at the top right corner of Microsoft Edge) and select Settings.

In the opened settings menu select Reset settings.

Select Restore settings to their default values. In the opened window, confirm that you wish to reset Microsoft Edge settings to default by clicking the Reset button.

• If this did not help, follow these alternative instructions explaining how to reset the Microsoft Edge browser.

Summary:

A browser hijacker is a type of adware infection that modifies Internet browser settings by assigning the homepage and default Internet search engine settings to some other (unwanted) website URL. Commonly, this type of adware infiltrates operating systems through free software downloads. If your download is managed by a download client, ensure that you decline offers to install advertised toolbars or applications that seek to change your homepage and default Internet search engine settings.

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