Slashdot Mirror
Banner Ad on Myspace Serves Adware to 1 Million
An anonymous reader writes "Washingtonpost.com's Security Fix blog reports that a banner ad running on MySpace.com and other Web sites used a Windows security flaw to push adware and spyware out to more than one million computer users this week. The attack leveraged the Windows Metafile (WMF) exploit to install programs in the PurityScan/ClickSpring family of adware, which bombards the user with pop-up ads and tracks their Web usage."
Darwinism works!
There is a new variant of the WMF exploit that affects all Mac users running OS X. When a Mac user browses a web page that is displaying a banner ad with the WMF exploit, malicious code is run that silently installs Windows Vista on to the Mac users computer thereby completely replacing OS X with Vista.
Robert Oschler - RobotsRule.com
Hah, that's like finding a loaded diaper in a garbage dump and then complaining about the level of sanitation.
"It's called My Space not Your space for a reason."
-MySpace Vice President In Charge Of Revenue Generation
Knowledge is how to play a game, intelligence is how to win, wisdom is knowing what game to play.
If your OS puts out a security fix, it's probably for a reason. This could have been avoided for everyone just by keeping up-to-date.
Exactly - every time you delete a cookie an american flag bursts into flame.
People on non-Windows platforms are generally not the targets of ads, as indicated by XP-styled "message box" banners.
I make websites and stuff. Buy one.
I'd ban the advertising company from my site after a stunt like this, no matter how much money they bring in.
Let me guess, you generally don't receive advertising money.
When I was a kid, we only had one Darth.
> Exactly - every time you delete a cookie an american flag bursts into flame. So what happens when you clear all cookies from you machine?
The shocking part is that there are still people using Windows. I've got a laptop sitting around here with Windows on it that I use as a novelty once in a while, but it's not like it can really do anything useful. The package management system is horribly antiquainted, the dependancy checking leaves a lot to be desired, and then there are the security holes in the stock applications that come with the OS. Maybe some day it will mature enough to be useful, but for now it's just a novelty that still isn't up to being used in a production environment.
Circumcision is child abuse.
... they DO end up with less stench on them at the top of the ride than at the bottom, since convervation of mass means that the stuff suffocating me had to come from somewhere...
Help poke pirates in the eyepatch, arr.
God kills an American kitten.
Please stop APK.. you're only hurting yourself.
> And they wonder why consumers want to block all ads. Its because of illegal virus ads like this.
Well, not *just* this. Personally I started blocking adds the moment they started making fscking noise at me. I also developed an irrational dislike of frogs at around the same time. Coincidence... I think not.
I have no fear of this type of internets. Until betting on horse races becomes a common place in every American's house, the tubes will be entirely too clogged to deliver this to me.
So that's what's meant by that term?
(You know I've been waiting to say that for weeks now)
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
I hear kittens taste like chicken, but I prefer mine raw.
OMG WTF I THOUGHT THOSE WERE POP-UPS BY HACKERS!!! when i pressed the "X" it still went to there page!!!!! those are the ppl we should really be suing$@!one!!
my blog
Yes, it's an online dating site. No, I haven't met anyone on there yet. Shut up.
Most people on MySpace have so much spyware to begin with that no change was noticed in their daily activity.
The Government is spying on you and killing off people who speak bad about the government. The whole "Freedom" thing is a public face, the original writers of the Constitution are a mysterious and well hidden group that has links to The Masons and Illuminati.
Can I substantiate this? Yes. Will I substantiate it? No.
I don't care if anyone believes me. Just remember, you heard it here first.
Oh and pass the bong, dude. Thanks.
You are underestimating the power that $.0000001 per ad can generate.
So if you're not a Windows or Mac OS X (PowerPC) user, you're SOL.
You mean to tell us that a site that is pratically a shrine to petty teenage popularity contests, cliquishness, and ad-whoring for the biggest businesses in the world only supports the two OSes used by more than 2% of the market!?
Holy crap! What is the world coming to?
If it's for-profit but free, you're not the customer -- you're the product (e.g., the Slashdot Beta's "audience").
Yup! The virus evolved by itself from random bits and used WMF as a host, and then became active on users' PCs.... ;)