It’s a “Threat Secured” alert that has been popping up for the last several days now. I haven’t noticed that this pops up when I do something particular, but randomly. Here is the text (I’m typing it, as there is no way to copy it):
Threat Secured
We prevented your connection to api[dot]mergn[dot]com because it is a dangerous webpage. Threat category: URL:Blacklist
and later in the same pop up window…
Threat name: URL:Blacklist
Threat type: Miscellaneous - This is malicious software that could harm your data, computer, or network.
URL: https://api[dot]mergn[dot]com/sdk-management/api/brand
Process: C:\Program Files\Avast Software\Browser\Application\AvastBrowser.exe
Detected by: Web Shield
Status: Connection aborted
Option: Report false detection
and then I get an Alert ID, which is 3f8aa4578be2/2025-01-17T15:33:51.410Z
The alert doesn’t pop up when I try to access any particular webpage, but popular sites like YouTube and others. I can see Avast One has detected it, but I would like to learn more about why it might be generating it so that if there are any security issues on my laptop, I take care of it permanently. I tried googling this api[dot]mergn[dot]com inside quotes, but literally no information is available about it on the entire Google.
Okay, so I googled only “mergn” and got to know it’s a company in my country. They offer the services of Customer Engagement by helping brands “accelerate conversion, retention and increase customer lifetime value.” The description is enough to see why Avast has blocked them, calling theirs “a malicious software” and the api subdomain of their website “a dangerous webpage.” And guess what, they are also supported by my country’s ministry of information technology! Amazing! Somebody from the first world, please tell them that what they are offering was always doable, but no company did because entering people’s computers and devices to spy on them like that is considered unethical, or even criminal, practice. People in my country have no sense of right and wrong, moral and immoral – Ministry of Information Technology, wow!. It’s only when people in the first world teach them what are business and technology practices and norms in an ethical, civilized world do they learn how to behave and do business in non-criminal ways. What a joke us Pakistanis have become ourselves and made our country become – a laughing stock in the world. Shameful.
It looks like Avast is blocking a connection to api.mergn.com, which might be linked to an extension, app, or background service. Since there’s no info on it, it could be a false positive or something sketchy. Check your installed browser extensions and apps—maybe disable/remove anything suspicious. You can also run a full malware scan just to be safe. If you think it’s a false positive, you can report it to Avast.