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Banner Ad on Myspace Serves Adware to 1 Million

Posted by ryuzaki0 on from the have-some-pop-ups dept.

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."

13 of 390 comments (clear)

  1. Excellent. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Darwinism works!

    1. Re:Excellent. by jZnat · · Score: 4, Funny

      Well, it surely wasn't Intelligent Design that did it...

      --
      'Yes, firefox is indeed greater than women. Can women block pops up for you? No. Can Firefox show you naked women? Yes.'
    2. Re:Excellent. by ultranova · · Score: 4, Funny

      ...Which is pathetically ironic given that people here don't get laid.

      Hah! A real master nerd is never unprepared. I'll watch the whole run of Nuku-Nuku for inspiration and build myself a catgirl android lover, and we'll make dozens of cyborg kittens together.

      Take that, natural selection!

      --

      Forget magic. Any technology distinguishable from divine power is insufficiently advanced.

  2. Re:First time? by hendridm · · Score: 5, Funny
    Makes me question myspace, you'd think they have people watching for these sorts of attacks.

    Hah, that's like finding a loaded diaper in a garbage dump and then complaining about the level of sanitation.

  3. All your Myspace are belong to us? by davidwr · · Score: 5, Funny

    "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.
  4. Just update by bigtimepie · · Score: 5, Funny
    From the article:
    Microsoft released a patch in January to fix a serious security flaw in the way Windows renders WMF
    What is clear from this attack is that there are plenty of people who still haven't installed this security update from Microsoft.
    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.
  5. Re:why? by kjart · · Score: 4, Funny

    Anyone who protests tracking of their web usage obviously hates america.

    Exactly - every time you delete a cookie an american flag bursts into flame.

  6. Re:Prosecute virus creating companies. by Ethan+Allison · · Score: 5, Funny

    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.
  7. Re:Heh, on Facebook too. by rhizome · · Score: 4, Funny

    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.
  8. The shocking part is.... by Rapier · · Score: 4, Funny

    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.

  9. Re:why? by max99ted · · Score: 4, Funny
    Exactly - every time you delete a cookie an american flag bursts into flame. So what happens when you clear all cookies from you machine?

    God kills an American kitten.

    --

    Please stop APK.. you're only hurting yourself.

  10. Same thing on OKCupid... by Max+Threshold · · Score: 4, Funny
    I encountered an ad which prompted me to download a file called 'exp.wmf'.

    Yes, it's an online dating site. No, I haven't met anyone on there yet. Shut up.

  11. Doesn't matter by Frightening · · Score: 4, Funny

    Most people on MySpace have so much spyware to begin with that no change was noticed in their daily activity.