Hi all,
I am pleased to join this thread as I have been experiencing this redirect issue for the past 10 days and I have tried any possible step to fix it but unfortunately this browser redirect still occurs. I don’t know the risk level of this redirect issue (pure adware, malware, ransomware). I have spent tons of hours on this issue so I will jot down anything that can be helpful.
First of all I have noticed that this browser redirects only happens on sites that have ads in it. So far I have had this issue with Italian online newspapers (repubblica.it , gazzetta.it , corriere.it) and some forums such as tomsguide.com . I These are pages I normally visit and I never had any issue in the past. All of these sites have ads in their webpages and maybe this is one of the roots that triggers this issue. If I surf on pages such as Wikipedia, Apple website or other pages that do not have ads in them the browser isn’t redirected.
I would also like to point out that so far the issue only happened on iPhone or iPad, none of the desktop devices connected to my network have been impacted (i.e. laptop that runs windows 7). Besides, the redirect occurs regardless of the ways the devices are connected online (wi-fi or 4G).
Having said so, I will point out all the steps of the issue, the devices impacted and the troubleshooting I have done so far:
Issue
- While surfing the internet Safari redirects to the incriminated site mentioned in this thread
- If I click on the backwards button to go back to the page I was visiting I am redirected again to a page normally happyrewards.org but lately I have been redirected to other pages
- The page displays a message saying that I have won a Tesco Voucher or I have been selected to test a new iPhone X or I have won one of the new iPhones
- In order to get rid of this I need to close the browser
Devices impacted:
- Ipad Mini 4 (iOS 10.3.3 and the upgraded to iOS 11)
- Two Iphones SE (iOS 10.3.3)
Troubleshooting:
- Closed browser, turned on flight mode and deleted cache and cookies from Safari > Issue persists
- Reset network settings > Issue persists
- Erase all settings > Problems persists
- Erase all content and settings > Problem persists
- Reset the iPad via iTunes and installed new operating system > Problem persists
- Deleted all the iPhones and iPad iCloud back-ups from iCloud > Problem persists
- Downloaded Opera and Chrome > Problem persists
- Surfed with Private mode on > Problem persists
- I have tried all the above mentioned steps one more time and tried to connect to a different Wi-Fi from a different router > Problem persists
- Reset router > Problem persists
When the redirect doesn’t happen
- Java script turned off and Block all cookies activated (obviously, the pages do not load correctly).
- Surfing pages without ads
Yesterday I have left my iPad to the Apple reseller I bought if from for some diagnostic and they advised me that they have never experienced such issue. They said that once you wipe out everything from the iPad and reinstall everything then the redirect should disappear. I am still waiting for their response on the diagnostic tests. In the meanwhile, I have also got in touch with Apple and opened a case accordingly. I have also checked with my internet provider and they said that everything looks ok.
At this stage I don’t know what could be the steps to solve this issue.
My unsolved questions are the following:
- Can this be a case of DNS poisoning?
- Can somebody control the devices remotely through a hidden Java script or flash script?
- Is it possible that one of the devices on the network has an adware software installed and this is controlling the other devices that at one stage shared the same connection?
- Will a site blacklist solve this issue?
- At a stage the impacted devices have been connected to the same Wi-Fi and exchanged Facebook messages or normal messages. Can this be the reason why the issue occurs on all these devices?
Options:
- Should we report these websites to Google?
- Can Apple jump in and add a patch or something to the operating system to fix this?
If you type the incriminated URL in Google you will come across threads external to this Apple forum where the issue is flagged. In most of the cases the issue happened in the past 15-30 days, so I guess this might be kind of new and there are other people affected.
P.S. I have also noticed that when I surf the sites that trigger this issue, and I check the cookies in the Website Data (Settings>Safari>Advanced>Website Data) I notice a large amount of Ad cookies.
Please get back to this thread so that we can share as much information as possible to solve this issue.
Thanks