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The Next Ad You Click May Be a Virus

Jay notes a Wall Street Journal report about ad networks unintentionally selling empty space to malware loaders (the link is to a syndicating site that doesn't require a subscription to view). The submitter comments: "The labeling of the fake ad sellers as hackers is pretty bogus; there's no hacking involved. Simply sign up for one of these networks, create your fake site, put up another company's creative, and you're good to go." The incidents being reported go back a few months, but the pattern of this criminal activity seems to be coming clear only recently."EWeek.com, a technology news site owned by Ziff Davis Enterprise, in February displayed an ad on its homepage masquerading as a promotion for LaCoste, the shirt maker. The retailer hadn't placed the ad — a hacker had, to direct users to a Web site where harmful programs would be downloaded to their computers, says Stephen Wellman, director of community and content for Ziff Davis."

226 comments

  1. Aren't they all? by Bob_Who · · Score: 4, Insightful

    I mean really, its all just semantics (and semiotics) and we're all infected...cookie anyone?

    1. Re:Aren't they all? by dean.collins · · Score: 5, Informative

      As a content provider (I'm the founder of http://www.livebaseballchat.com/ stuff like this annoys the hell out of me.

      I mean we go to all the effort to secure passwords, code tc - then our users are infected with ads they view....

      We were sourcing our banner ads from Pubmatic but after a two 'problem ads' about 3 weeks I've cut it back to Google + banners we sell internall direct to end companies.

      I dont have any answers but if you have a problem with a website be sure to let the content owners know - they might not even realise they have a problem.

      Cheers,
      Dean Collins
      http://www.livebaseballchat.com/

    2. Re:Aren't they all? by dziban303 · · Score: 4, Insightful

      People actually click on ads?

    3. Re:Aren't they all? by John+Hasler · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Evidently someone does, and I'm grateful.

      --
      Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
    4. Re:Aren't they all? by Jurily · · Score: 1

      I'm sure there's a firefox addon for that. Would go along nicely with adblock.

    5. Re:Aren't they all? by mysidia · · Score: 3, Interesting

      What's worse, is even Google ads can potentially be infectious links.

      The ads that inject javascript and/or exploit vulnerabilities in Adobe Flash, Acrobat, or Office, when displayed are conceivably worse than ones that lead to a malicious page if you click them.

      The article title could just as easily have been "The next Ad you see may be silently infecting you on sight"

      What really needs to happen is, new advertisers need to get vetted extensively.

      Advertisers should have to upload their banner imagery, and get it served by the trusted party (content provider or well-known ad servicing company), rather than get to remote-load content that can't be reviewed in advance and introduce unexpected cookies, javascript, etc.

      And at least the first few times an ad is listed, there should be sporadic manual reviews by Google, et al, (whoever they advertise with) and thorough searches for malicious content...

      Collect a huge deposit in advance of advertising, and have the contract written such that the deposit is forfeit, if there is evidence of malicious code, drive-by download, exploit attempts, attempted worm, or attempted offering of spyware applications via the ad.

    6. Re:Aren't they all? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      cookies are a BIT DIFFERENT than a system killing virus my friend!

    7. Re:Aren't they all? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      R you the hacker?

    8. Re:Aren't they all? by M8e · · Score: 3, Funny

      Is that bit a 1 or an 0?

    9. Re:Aren't they all? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      As founder of http://www.livebaseballchat.com I think you could have done a better job of including more references to http://www.livebaseballchat.com into your post.

      http://www.livebaseballchat.com
      http://www.livebaseballchat.com
      http://www.livebaseballchat.com

    10. Re:Aren't they all? by matt328 · · Score: 1

      People actually see ads?

      --
      Check out the cave on the east side of lake Hylia. Strange and wonderful things live in it.
    11. Re:Aren't they all? by vaporland · · Score: 1

      people actually SEE ads on the internets? (cough)PRIVOXY(cough)

      --
      Ask Me About... The 80's!
    12. Re:Aren't they all? by hesaigo999ca · · Score: 1

      Maybe the "hacked" version of FireFox or IE you downloaded from what you thought was a great download site, does, as it has a built in auto clicker, to generate revenue for the guy that has adsense on his web page, and wants everyone to click on his ads...so he creates a bad version of each, sends it to his friends or family, and watches his revenue grow...although now he indirectly makes other people click on links that lead you to websites, then installs malware.Ooops.

    13. Re:Aren't they all? by bigngamer92 · · Score: 1

      Now either your clueless and think he's actually glad people are clicking on ads because he laces ads with virii. Judging by your spelling I'm leaning on this option.

      Or your trying to be funny by making a statement about the use of ad based business models on the web into a joke about the article.
      Which is it?

    14. Re:Aren't they all? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It's old news. After having some data in cookies from various websites grabbed (if you do any online shopping, watch out for that!) and other annoying things associated with popups, this is why I use the AdBlock and NoScript Firefox extensions. If the malicious scripts don't run in the first place, then they're less of a problem. Also a lot of mainstream legit sites don't really do much to screen what runs in their ads, they don't give a squat as long as they get their money.

      What took the WSJ sooo long to finally get around to figuring this one out?

    15. Re:Aren't they all? by sorak · · Score: 1

      I mean really, its all just semantics (and semiotics) and we're all infected...cookie anyone?

      But the difference is that cookies are only an "infection" in the same way that you grocery store card is an "infection".

    16. Re:Aren't they all? by 2obvious4u · · Score: 1

      I click on the ads at http://www.penny-arcade.com/ they do a good job with their ads and I want to support their site, not only that, the products they advertise are usually pretty cool.

  2. what ads? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    /strokes adblock

    1. Re:what ads? by spyder-implee · · Score: 0

      +1

      --
      Take what ye can. Give nothing back!
    2. Re:what ads? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And when the good sites on the internet disappear from lack of advertising revenue, it'll be YOUR FAULT! In the hereafter you will be shrunk down to sub-micron size and burn for all eternity under the heatsink of a poorly cooled Pentium 4 based web server!

    3. Re:what ads? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      some ads are worth reviewing

      /strokes cock

    4. Re:what ads? by 0xygen · · Score: 2, Insightful

      And when all the good sites on the internet have disappeared, the people who made them will be back on business on pay sites taking subscriptions.
      Better to just get paid directly for quality content, than splitting it with a whole mountain of third parties.

      Oh wait, the content isn't so great that people will pay for it? Bummer.

    5. Re:what ads? by hairyfeet · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Actually it is the webmasters and advertisers fault that so many of us use ABP and Noscript. Pull up a chair young'un and let me explain.

      Back in the old days (cue my oldest saying "when folks had 8-tracks and dinosaurs ruled the earth") ads were just a few lines of pretty text or a picture, or hell if you wanted to be fancy a little .gif. But we had us a problem. you see, all these video formats were competing, and most really REALLY sucked. Anybody who went through the heyday of Real player on Windows knows of which i speak, so somebody came up with flash, which worked okay.

      But then the evil advertising execs saw the flash video and said "You know what? I bet we can use this to irritate the living hell out of folks. Let's see them ignore our fricking ads now baby!" and thus was born the Bonzi Buddy of web evil, the "shoot the monkey and win a ---" ads. And they truly were irritating as all hell. but then the other ad execs saw this, and being the evil creatures of Satan that they are, said "we can top that!" and so ads became ever more annoying and evil. In fact I am surprised somebody hasn't put that damned frog in a looping flash ad with little text that says "buy coke"

      Hell for all I know, they may have. I and many other wouldn't know, because one day a great and noble man named Wlad came along and said "Damn, that's irritating as fuck!" and being the great man that he is, created the wonder that is ABP. And all was good. Now if you and any other web masters want to appeal to those of us blessed with the ABP to let your puny site poison our eyes, that is fine. but woe be unto you if you show us even ONE of those damned "shoot the monkey and win a ---" ads for we shall put you in the blacklist for all eternity. Amen.

      --
      ACs don't waste your time replying, your posts are never seen by me.
    6. Re:what ads? by Shikaku · · Score: 1

      No, it will be your fault for making an unsustainable website.

    7. Re:what ads? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      And when all the good sites on the internet have disappeared, the people who made them will be back on business on pay sites taking subscriptions.

      So they'll be selling porn then?

    8. Re:what ads? by Opportunist · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Well, there's content that you want to read but wouldn't want to pay for. It's something "nice to have", but you wouldn't spit out dough for it.

      All those "nice to have" pages would vanish if it weren't for ads.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    9. Re:what ads? by Opportunist · · Score: 3, Insightful

      And in return adblock and noscript is what keeps these pages in existance.

      If you did see those full page flash ads, and you had no chance to block them, would you still visit the page? Or would it not be worth the annoyance and you'd just turn away in disgust? Using adblock and noscript keeps their impressions up and thus keeps the pagemasters from learning that annoying the living hell out of your visitors isn't how you attract people.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    10. Re:what ads? by Jurily · · Score: 1, Troll

      All those "nice to have" pages would vanish if it weren't for ads.

      If you can't support your website with only ads that don't try to grab my attention any possible way they can, don't blame me for using adblock. I have stuff to do, and my attention is valuable enough, especially when I'm looking for the content you want me to look for.

    11. Re:what ads? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      > Back in the old days (cue my oldest saying "when folks had 8-tracks and dinosaurs ruled the earth") ads were just a few lines of pretty text or a picture

      Back in the old days, the internet did not HAVE ads. Let alone pictures, unless you uudecoded them yourself.

      Sheesh. Noobs.

      (It also didn't have Microsoft OS PCs on it. I wonder if these things are related).

      Eternal September. Now get off my lawn!

    12. Re:what ads? by John+Hasler · · Score: 4, Funny

      No hope for the Web, I guess. Even if I didn't block the ads I'd never click them, and even if I clicked them I'd never buy the products. The Web is going to collapse and it's all my fault. Sob.

      --
      Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
    13. Re:what ads? by Fieryphoenix · · Score: 1

      You mean virusblock?

    14. Re:what ads? by Pinckney · · Score: 4, Insightful

      If you did see those full page flash ads, and you had no chance to block them, would you still visit the page? Or would it not be worth the annoyance and you'd just turn away in disgust? Using adblock and noscript keeps their impressions up and thus keeps the pagemasters from learning that annoying the living hell out of your visitors isn't how you attract people.

      People don't care. I find internet ads to be just as annoying as television ads, but most people keep using both without blocking them. Most of the time, when I use someone else's computer, they have no ad-blocking software at all. It's not just lack of knowledge. I just asked my sister if she wanted to block online ads. She said "It's fine. I don't want to mess with it. I really don't care at all." Ads are everywhere in our culture, and most people don't give a damn.

    15. Re:what ads? by Kranerian · · Score: 2, Insightful

      I'm never going to click on ads whether or not I can see them. There's no reason to have them sitting around annoying me.

      --
      Do you have any idea how long it takes to dig graves for twenty-three oak trees?
    16. Re:what ads? by tonycheese · · Score: 1

      Congratulations, you've won a free iPod Nano!

    17. Re:what ads? by Sporkinum · · Score: 1

      All those "nice to have" pages would vanish if it weren't for ads.

      Facebook and Twitter go to the shitter!

      --
      "He's lost in a 'floyd hole"
    18. Re:what ads? by stine2469 · · Score: 1

      That wasn't loud enough, try again.

    19. Re:what ads? by mrbcs · · Score: 3, Informative

      This is my favourite piece of sanity: http://www.mvps.org/winhelp2002/hosts.htm One hosts file, one reboot, no more problems anywhere. Shit google ads don't even work. They may show up, but you can't click em. I just got tired of waiting for shit ads to load. I never clicked em, so I'm actually saving the sites money by not having to serve me an ad I'll never click. This also stops tons of phishing sites and other malware. I can even use ie and opera and don't see ads.

      --
      I'm not anti-social, I'm anti-idiot.
    20. Re:what ads? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Your arugment would work if advertisers used a websites log files to track views and click throughs.

      They don't. Instead they use javascript and their own logs. Things like noscript and abp prevent exactly that from happening

    21. Re:what ads? by TornCityVenz · · Score: 1

      It was SHOCK the monkey you insenstive clod.. Sadly one of the best web based games of the time.

      --
      I Need someone to rebuild a Digitech Digital Delay pedal for me....for me...for me...for me.
    22. Re:what ads? by elashish14 · · Score: 2, Interesting

      So I guess this was the case, back in the day. I remember those days, even though I was a wee one. But after installing a new system from scratch, customizing Firefox is one of the many arduous tasks that must be done (sure, it's as easy as just copying your ~/, but it still has to be done).

      So I said forget it and just went along my way without doing it once and a couple months later, I still haven't installed it. Times have changed - now the only ads that I see are nothing like the ones of old. And you know what? I like it this way cause you know, if I see the ad of a company that I don't like (hint: it rhymes with Shmicrosoft), I click it knowing that said company will lose a couple fractions of a cent. And all feels good in the world.

      --
      I have left slashdot and am now on Soylent News. FUCK YOU DICE.
    23. Re:what ads? by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Hush, dammit! As long as the marketingweenies believe it works we got free pages, now shut up! :)

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    24. Re:what ads? by Opportunist · · Score: 2, Funny

      Ok, ok, there'd be some beneficial effects to it, but overall I think we'd lose more than we gain.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    25. Re:what ads? by EdIII · · Score: 1

      Dear God, that hosts file is one of the best kept secrets isn't it?

      Truly effective at stopping shit dead in it's tracks. It's useful to point out, that it is not just web browsers either. It's EVERYTHING. Unless your program is written to somehow work without using the communications stack in Windows, it will have to go through the hosts file.

      There is only one major drawback that makes it hard to use to it's full potential.

      1) No wild cards.

    26. Re:what ads? by LKM · · Score: 3, Insightful

      I have a pretty simple setup. I block all Flash, but otherwise allow ads. I don't block Flash because I want to block Flash ads, I block it because it's almost always annoying and pointless and crashing my computer or slowing it down, regardless of whether it is an ad or not. The fact that Flash ads are blocked is collateral damage.

      And I've found that I don't mind most non-Flash ads. I barely ever click on any (save for Google search results), but I don't mind them 99% of the time. And if I do mind them, I just close the window and find the same content on a different site.

      So here's a simple rule: If you want me to see your ad, don't use Flash.

    27. Re:what ads? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting

      Editors Note: in most cases a large HOSTS file (over 135 kb) tends to slow down the machine.

      It's nearly 600kB. I don't think it's going to be nice to use.

      Also, wouldn't redirecting them to an invalid ip, say 0.0.0.0, work better than localhost?

    28. Re:what ads? by dangitman · · Score: 1

      the "shoot the monkey and win a ---" ads.

      You mean, I could really win three hyphens?! Where do I click?

      --
      ... and then they built the supercollider.
    29. Re:what ads? by jonbryce · · Score: 1

      The original punch the monkey ad was a Java applet. Flash wasn't so popular in those days.

    30. Re:what ads? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The article suggests a few ways in which this can be avoided.

      Yes, i'm new here ;)

    31. Re:what ads? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      People don't care. I find internet ads to be just as annoying as television ads, but most people keep using both without blocking them. Most of the time, when I use someone else's computer, they have no ad-blocking software at all. It's not just lack of knowledge. I just asked my sister if she wanted to block online ads. She said "It's fine. I don't want to mess with it. I really don't care at all." Ads are everywhere in our culture, and most people don't give a damn.

      I wouldn't care too much if I could read the page. I installed adblock some years ago when large vertical banners on both sides of a column of text became fashionable. With moving and flashing things left and right of the text column I'm just not capable of concentrating on the text itself, it's way too distracting. When it became too frustrating to constantly run into sites which blocked me from reading the content I came for in the first place then I installed adblock.

      I'm not using it anymore, by the way. After I started using noscript I found it blocks everything that annoys me, I don't need two tools to do what one of them can do on its own.

    32. Re:what ads? by hmar · · Score: 1

      Well, there's content that you want to read but wouldn't want to pay for. It's something "nice to have", but you wouldn't spit out dough for it.

      All those "nice to have" pages would vanish if it weren't for ads.

      Slashdot, anyone?

    33. Re:what ads? by JimFive · · Score: 1

      Also, wouldn't redirecting them to an invalid ip, say 0.0.0.0, work better than localhost?

      As I understand it, No. With an invalid ip you have to wait for a timeout, by sending to localhost you get the fail immediately.
      --
      JimFive

      --
      Please stop using the word theory when you mean hypothesis.
    34. Re:what ads? by inject_hotmail.com · · Score: 1

      Hmmm...that's odd...my sister demands that I install host block on any computer I set up for her.

      Odd indeed.

    35. Re:what ads? by 0xygen · · Score: 1

      Out of interest, what do you think the "Subscribe" button is for?

    36. Re:what ads? by sorak · · Score: 1

      If you did see those full page flash ads, and you had no chance to block them, would you still visit the page? Or would it not be worth the annoyance and you'd just turn away in disgust? Using adblock and noscript keeps their impressions up and thus keeps the pagemasters from learning that annoying the living hell out of your visitors isn't how you attract people.

      People don't care. I find internet ads to be just as annoying as television ads, but most people keep using both without blocking them. Most of the time, when I use someone else's computer, they have no ad-blocking software at all. It's not just lack of knowledge. I just asked my sister if she wanted to block online ads. She said "It's fine. I don't want to mess with it. I really don't care at all." Ads are everywhere in our culture, and most people don't give a damn.

      Exactly. We learn to tune them out. Now I DO get annoyed with the talking ads, and when the last hannibal lecter movie came out, there was an obnoxious ad where he jumped out of the center of the screen. Those ads truly are obnoxious, but the average person does not really need to be protected from advertisements.

      My only concern is, how does a website bring in revenue, if people expect everything to be free, and ad-free.

    37. Re:what ads? by hmar · · Score: 1

      Slashdot's subscription service adds very little value to the free service, as far as I can tell. I already get a checkbox asking if I want to hide the adds, and if that weren't here, there is still adblock. How much can Slashdot possibly make on subscriptions, and how many people currently viewing for free would pay to view this content? Especially if all sites started charging for viewing because they no longer had ad revenue?

    38. Re:what ads? by Hailth · · Score: 0

      I'm one of many people who would turn away in disgust.

      My speaker's volume adjustment does not work correctly; when I adjust it, I have to tweak the speakers for a long time before I get sound out of both of them. So, I leave it relatively high and I manage my audio with the internal controls. Anyone else who has the same set-up will confirm this for you, anything flash seems to be minimally effected by your PC's audio controls. The result? Those "cute/attention-getting" flash ads with sound, sound as if they're at 50+ on the internal setting even if they're on 2, with nearly 100% on the speakers themselves.

      I'd say my speakers are at about 80% but they can entertain all the neighbors on my street with music at 40 internal/80 hardware, and annoy us all with a flash ad that screams, "HEY YOU!!!!!"

      What a sense of community my neighborhood used to have, when we all yelled about that banner ad they heard coming from my house. It seems ABP is killing more than just the web...

    39. Re:what ads? by Ironica · · Score: 1

      Slashdot's subscription service adds very little value to the free service, as far as I can tell. I already get a checkbox asking if I want to hide the adds, and if that weren't here, there is still adblock. How much can Slashdot possibly make on subscriptions, and how many people currently viewing for free would pay to view this content? Especially if all sites started charging for viewing because they no longer had ad revenue?

      Some people pay for subscriptions just to support a site they like and want to stick around. It's an alternative model to ad-supported content, and if internet ads are "defeated" as a valid revenue stream, it'll be the dominant model.

      A third alternative is how many cable channels support themselves... by charging the providers, who pass on the fees to the customer. So it could also be "Act now, and get Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, and Slashdot for only $4.99 a month!" and you ask, "But, can't I just get Slashdot?" and they say, "Sure! For just $4.98 a month!" and so you spend the extra penny so you can find out what your FB-addict friends are doing these days.

      --
      Don't you wish your girlfriend was a geek like me?
    40. Re:what ads? by Patch86 · · Score: 1

      Most (all?) advertising is click-based, not view-based.

      I've never knowingly clicked on a banner add, in all the many years before I found Adblock. Whether I see them or not makes no difference if I don't click on them anyway.

      As an aside, I don't have a huge problem with reasonably sized static ads on websites. Text-based ads are even better. If they were just these, I might even be inclined to pay attention to them and consider clicking. If they take up half the page, have resource-crunching animated graphics that take an age to load, pop-up windows, or, worst of all, have audio, they deserve nothing but scorn. It's ads like these that have caused so many people to flock to Adblock and similar, the advertisers have only themselves to blame for it.

    41. Re:what ads? by 2obvious4u · · Score: 1

      What about the neat ads? I like the "I'm a Mac" ads on www.cnn.com they are funny. I watch the Super Bowl mostly for the ads and on TBS there is that funny ad show. All cool.

      What sucks is the ad services. If the content owners really own their advertising and only advertise for good products then ads aren't that bad.

    42. Re:what ads? by petermgreen · · Score: 1

      Truly effective at stopping shit dead in it's tracks. It's useful to point out, that it is not just web browsers either. It's EVERYTHING. Unless your program is written to somehow work without using the communications stack in Windows, it will have to go through the hosts file.
      If you want to bypass the hosts file you can quite easilly directly connect to an IP or ship your own dns lookup code (dns isn't that hard to implement) either using hardcoded dns servers or getting the machines dns server addresses through iphlpapi.

      --
      note: i'm known as plugwash most places but i screwd up registering that here somehow in the past and now can't register
    43. Re:what ads? by mrbcs · · Score: 1

      Turn off dns. Start, Run, services.msc, DNS Client - > disable. Reboot. Problem solved.

      --
      I'm not anti-social, I'm anti-idiot.
    44. Re:what ads? by skeeto · · Score: 1

      Nowadays, my main use of adblock is for privacy. You seem like you might not have adblock, but if you do go to a site with ads and bring up the list of blockable elements. Look at it carefully. Most of the elements not from the originating website aren't even advertisements, but 1x1 pixel (or some variation) trackers and tracking javascript scripts! Go to a gaming website and you'll find 4 or 5 of these things watching you.

      I use adblock to keep these places from watching me.

  3. When will this end? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    While the internet is a wonderful thing; I can't help but wonder where did all of the douchebags come from. Every liar, cheat, grifter is taking their shot at fucking up the sandbox we all play in. Its all fun and games when windows users get hosed, but after awhile even that gets old. I am just a tired old man. It makes me sad that my poor view of humanity gets reinforced every time I turn around.

    1. Re:When will this end? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      So stop turning around and just take it like a man.

    2. Re:When will this end? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Everyone has a price. For some people, it's making $100/mo in profit in selling dick pills.

    3. Re:When will this end? by Fastolfe · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Botnets and financial data have value, so it makes sense that there's profit to be had in finding ways to infect new machines. These are the same douchebags that fill up my gmail Spam folder. If there's profit to be had, and nearly zero chance you'll be caught, people will do pretty much anything. It's human nature. All you can do is improve the sandbox so that people can't (profitably) abuse it, and most of the douchebags will leave.

    4. Re:When will this end? by CarpetShark · · Score: 0

      While the internet is a wonderful thing; I can't help but wonder where did all of the douchebags come from

      Well here's a tip: those viruses only run on one platform.

    5. Re:When will this end? by Sponge+Bath · · Score: 5, Insightful

      I feel your pain. The unfolding truth seems to be that they were always there and humanity really sucks for the most part. The internet just makes it easier to tally the grim statistics.

    6. Re:When will this end? by Korin43 · · Score: 2, Funny

      It's the current 'big thing'. Eventually people will realize you don't make much money with spam and they'll go back to robbing banks like civilized people.

    7. Re:When will this end? by Falconhell · · Score: 1, Insightful

      News flash for you;

      Windows is the only platform worth writing virus for.

      The others market share added together is not even 10%. Why would anyone write a virus that cannot effect 90% of potential targets.

    8. Re:When will this end? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

      Someone said it before, "You have to understand economics to understand security."

    9. Re:When will this end? by SkyDude · · Score: 1

      Well here's a tip: those viruses only run on one platform.

      OK, so next week, all Microsoft OSes are made illegal, and users have just thirty days to switch to another. What's your pleasure - Mac or Linux?

      So everyone has changed to one or the other. Wanna take a bet how long it will take for viruses and exploits to start showing up in large quantities?

      --
      == First cross river, then insult alligator.
    10. Re:When will this end? by Nerdfest · · Score: 1

      I believe some of those people may also need to be reminded about standing on your lawn. Sad ... the memory is the first thing to go.

    11. Re:When will this end? by calmofthestorm · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Noniterated game.

      Seriously. Reputation is everything. No effect on reputation ==> no morals, at least for many people.

      --
      93rd rule of Slashdot: No matter how obvious my sarcasm is, my comment will be taken seriously by someone.
    12. Re:When will this end? by AnalPerfume · · Score: 2, Interesting

      "Every liar, cheat, grifter is taking their shot at fucking up the sandbox we all play in."

      You forgot greedy corporations, they arguably do more damage than the rest put together since they have the power, influence and money to really fuck it up for us mere mortals.

    13. Re:When will this end? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Why would anyone write a virus that cannot affect 90% of potential targets?

      Fixed that for you.

      /grammar-nazi

    14. Re:When will this end? by bit01 · · Score: 1

      I can't help but wonder where did all of the douchebags come from.

      It's simple statistics. In any large group of people, and on the internet we're talking billions, even if most people are wonderful it is a statistical certainty that a small fraction will be douchebags. Those douchebags have visibility out of all proportion to their numbers. e.g. The 4 people who were responsible for 3 billion robocalls.

      In addition, in the real world it's usually obvious when you're dealing with an possibly unsocialized child. On the net, not so much.

      ---

      The USA is <5% of the world's population. It is statistically insignificant.

    15. Re:When will this end? by eriks · · Score: 5, Insightful

      Humanity is actually mostly nice, really. It's just that with 7 billion people, even if only .01% are complete assholes, that's almost a million people, and you just know that ALL of those people are on the internet messing with us, and they seem like a billion people thanks to the amplification power of technology.

    16. Re:When will this end? by miggyb · · Score: 1

      I don't think you understand how percentages work. 10% of a huge number is still a pretty large number. If there are 10^x computers out there, and the platform you are writing for has a one percent market share, that's still 10^(x-2) you'd be infecting. Substitute an x value that's large enough, and you'll see what I mean. The problem is that if you're going to spend more resources on that 1% to find a flaw that's going to be more quickly fixed, then it's not worth it. Therein lies the problem.

      --
      This signature serves no purpose other than to help you see which posts were made by me.
    17. Re:When will this end? by pushf+popf · · Score: 3, Interesting

      Our internet is still there.

      Usenet, telnet, bash, text-based email, html without plugins, privoxy, linux. It's all still there. Leave the Flash ads and latest "screw you" schemes for the "consumers".

      For What It's Worth, I don't know how anybody can stand it. I walked up to a Co-worker's Vista machine running IE and just about had a seizure as the endless barrage of blinking flashing running ads flew about his screen, occupying at least 2/3rds of the real estate. I don't know why the lusers even bother.

      If my machines looked like that, I'd unplug them all and do something useful like cook for a living.

    18. Re:When will this end? by Foodie · · Score: 3, Insightful

      Why would anyone write a virus that cannot effect 90% of potential targets.

      Think about it. If you used an OS in that 10%, you would never suspect you had a virus on your system, would never bother to look for one. Meanwhile that keylogger, malware, whatever, will continue to work without you ever finding it.

    19. Re:When will this end? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The internet just makes it easier to tally the grim statistics.

      I wonder how long that will last? Because I am pretty sure almost no one wants to see that.

    20. Re:When will this end? by Bill,+Shooter+of+Bul · · Score: 1

      Humanity, despite your perception of it, has always been what it is. Its not some entangled state cat in a box. Your observing its flaws did not cause them, nor did your ignoring them prevent their existence. Life is what it is and people are who they are. The question is, what are you going to do about it now that you know something closer to the truth? Stick you head back in the sand? Try to change individuals? Change the system? Fight the Power? Righteous indignation? Legislation?

      --
      Well.. maybe. Or Maybe not. But Definitely not sort of.
    21. Re:When will this end? by AnalPerfume · · Score: 2, Interesting

      In that hypothetical situation I'd agree that malware writers would all suddenly focus their efforts towards Apple and Linux, but the success rate would be limited. Both are built to be secure.

      Apple have a small number of setups that a malware writer can rely being there to target, Apple also like to keep any security (and anything else for that matter) issues secret until they have a fix, so there's potential for exploitation there. Many of their users are also of the mindset that they are different from "PC"'s even thought they run a PC too, that malware is a Windows problem, so they won't do anything to protect themselves from it.

      Linux is by far a small and very fast moving target to hit. Each Linux distro has a different choice of software installed by default, slightly modified versions of software in their repositories and an army of people looking over the code before it reaches the end user. I see the most likely source of malware on Linux (when it starts) will be in closed source plugins for apps like Firefox. Flash Player has proven a weak point before, on all platforms.

      Eventually, both Linux and OSX will start to see malware, but it won't be anywhere near as bad as Windows is. Windows is a once-in-a-lifetime fuck-up that others have seen and nobody has been stupid enough to emulate.

      Look at the variety of OS's doing the rounds, they're ALL based on *nix. Whether it's a fully free and open source path, or a proprietary code bolted on. EVERY current OS in existence apart from Windows is *nix based to some degree, and which has 100% of the market share it really don't want? Windows. That tells it's own story. Feel free to convince yourself that things would be different and that Windows is no worse, or no more vulnerable than others. Repeat it enough and you might start believing it; it still won't make it any more true.

    22. Re:When will this end? by Russellkhan · · Score: 1

      The greedy corporations don't sound forgotten to me. Are you somehow excluding them from the group of liars, cheats and grifters?

      --
      Information doesn't want to be anthropomorphized anymore.
    23. Re:When will this end? by jonbryce · · Score: 2, Informative

      Windows has a lot less than 90% of the server market, yet it is still the platform virus writers target most.

    24. Re:When will this end? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      More and more providers drop their usenet servers. Nobody allows inbound telnet anymore. Bash and Linux have nothing to do with the internet (except for the downloading part). Email is full of spam. Html without plugins is still full of ads, and even google can't keep the price comparison pages out of the search results anymore.

    25. Re:When will this end? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      While the internet is a wonderful thing; I can't help but wonder where did all of the douchebags come from.
      Every liar, cheat, grifter is taking their shot at fucking up the sandbox we all play in.

      The douchebags were always there, but it's easier to exhibit antisocial behaviour when you don't have to look the other person in the face. For the same reason some people turn into assholes when they're driving their car. Those people need constant correction to stay decent. In contexts with enough social interaction they generally don't go as far as in situations without it.

    26. Re:When will this end? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      It is a number of morons market share, tell me what is the number of morons administrating linux servers compared to the number of morons admistrating windows sever...

      Oh and you sir is a moron for not understanding this simple fact.

      More morons under windows than any morons combined under any other os...

    27. Re:When will this end? by SkyDude · · Score: 1

      Would you agree that despite the security paradigm of Linux-based OSes, that the overriding security problem is social engineering?

      You know - your (insert non-tech relative name here) would open an attachment, download a free app, visit a malicious website - something that some clever criminal would use to lure them to defeat the security. Or worse, with a prevalence of *nix OSes in use, actually break the system.

      An old cliche might be applicable here - why do we climb mountains? Because they're there. Hackers, spammers and malware writers seem to live by that creed too. *nix OSes are just another mountain to be conquered.

      --
      == First cross river, then insult alligator.
    28. Re:When will this end? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Hey, the internet is a sandbox, and advertisers are cats. Leave the sandbox open, and you know what the cats will do.

    29. Re:When will this end? by drsmithy · · Score: 1

      In that hypothetical situation I'd agree that malware writers would all suddenly focus their efforts towards Apple and Linux, but the success rate would be limited. Both are built to be secure.

      No more so than Windows.

      Linux is by far a small and very fast moving target to hit. Each Linux distro has a different choice of software installed by default, slightly modified versions of software in their repositories and an army of people looking over the code before it reaches the end user. I see the most likely source of malware on Linux (when it starts) will be in closed source plugins for apps like Firefox. Flash Player has proven a weak point before, on all platforms.

      The most likely source of malware on Linux will be the same as it already is on Windows - the end users.

      You seem to be labouring under the illusion that most malware gets in because of OS bugs, flaws, or other "code level" problems. Most malware gets in because the user lets it in.

      Eventually, both Linux and OSX will start to see malware, but it won't be anywhere near as bad as Windows is. Windows is a once-in-a-lifetime fuck-up that others have seen and nobody has been stupid enough to emulate.

      Unless you think all those current Windows users will stop using computers completely, it will remain a problem. So long as ignorant users can run arbitrary code, malware will be around.

      Look at the variety of OS's doing the rounds, they're ALL based on *nix.

      Aren't monocultures supposed to be bad ?

      Feel free to convince yourself that things would be different and that Windows is no worse, or no more vulnerable than others. Repeat it enough and you might start believing it; it still won't make it any more true.

      I have yet to see a convincing argument that the single biggest reason for malware is not ignorant users. Yours is no better than any of the other correlation == causation dribble.

    30. Re:When will this end? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I'm a human, and yet I don't partake in said douchebag behavior. Maybe I'm not a human...

    31. Re:When will this end? by pushf+popf · · Score: 1

      More and more providers drop their usenet servers. Nobody allows inbound telnet anymore. Bash and Linux have nothing to do with the internet (except for the downloading part). Email is full of spam. Html without plugins is still full of ads, and even google can't keep the price comparison pages out of the search results anymore.

      I have all the usenet I can handle for a few bucks/month. Linux has apps that are more functional and "less warm and fuzzy" than the boatload of crap that ships with any recent windows, and telnet still works just fine on a number of ports.

      Thanks to a small application of geekiness, my email contains no spam (at least no more than it did 20 years ago) and my web browsing contains no ads. Once you turn off Javascript and most of the content handlers, a small collection of regular expressions kills almost everything else.

      The "real" internet is still there, in fact it's stronger than ever, you just need to view and filter it properly. The spammers and ads actually require a very minor amount of technology to stop them, and in fact, I find the challenge both relaxing and fascinating.

      It's like getting a new, free puzzle every morning. Which is what the original internet was all about.

    32. Re:When will this end? by AnalPerfume · · Score: 1

      Flesh space is a problem on all platforms, you're right. If you can get a user to click on something they will fall for it. In this case it's adverts which look real, and divert the user to a malicious website. You don't need to have any specific OS to see that advert and click on it, but you do need to have Windows to let it infect you.

      Linux does have good user / admin separation so malicious stuff run as a user won't be allowed to execute admin functions, which does limit it's potential for harm. That won't stand in the way of tricking someone to enter their admin password when the box suddenly appears on their screen. End user education is key on all platforms to avoid the basic social engineering mistakes.

    33. Re:When will this end? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Really? Where did all of the douchebags come from? You're kidding, right? Like the world was all goodness and light before the black hats found the Internets and a raison d'etre? Read some 5th grade world history and get some freaking perspective, Grampa!

    34. Re:When will this end? by CarpetShark · · Score: 1

      Bullshit. You're trying to say that half the webservers on the net (which run Unix; twice as many as run Windows, fyi), and could be jumping-off points for all sorts of attacks, or nodes in distributed attacks, are of no interest to virus writers? Not a chance.

    35. Re:When will this end? by sorak · · Score: 1

      While the internet is a wonderful thing; I can't help but wonder where did all of the douchebags come from. Every liar, cheat, grifter is taking their shot at fucking up the sandbox we all play in. Its all fun and games when windows users get hosed, but after awhile even that gets old. I am just a tired old man. It makes me sad that my poor view of humanity gets reinforced every time I turn around.

      Let's try a thought experiment...Let's say that we took every idiot, kiddie, and naive person on earth and stuck them all in one place. Now let's call this hypothetical place "yahoo.com". If you were a conman from a third world country, or just an American conman who doesn't want to leave his house, where would you want to be?

    36. Re:When will this end? by omnix · · Score: 1

      If it was only .01%... I'm thinking it's somewhere closer to 10-15% are truly unscrupulous, and another 10-20% that are either stupid or naive enough to follow the former set. Of that, I'd say half or more are actually capable of causing real problems (which is an amazing success rate, considering societies tendency to object to maliciousness). Thus, the effective number of assholes and blindly ignorant follows is fairly high (billions). Who was it that said, "Those who desire power, usually don't deserve it"?

      I'm really surprised, though, that this ad-based malware is only making news now. Using ads to traffic malware has been going on for at least the last 5 years.

    37. Re:When will this end? by TheQuantumShift · · Score: 1

      While the world is a wonderful thing; I can't help but wonder where did all of the douchebags come from. Every liar, cheat, grifter is taking their shot at fucking up the sandbox we all play in.

      Fixed that for you.

      --

      Shift happens. Fire it up.
    38. Re:When will this end? by Ironica · · Score: 1

      Our internet is still there.

      Usenet, telnet, bash, text-based email, html without plugins, privoxy, linux. It's all still there.

      I miss Clarinet.

      And it's funny how we've come full-circle: first, we had shell accounts. Back then, my boyfriend (now my ex-husband) was sooooo impressed when I had an account on a school network where EVERY computer had ITS OWN IP address and was DIRECTLY ON THE INTERNET.

      Then we all got PPP/SLIP, and everyone was directly on the internet.

      Now, though, I run Linux at home, or at work I SSH to my web host or whatever, so that I can have that handy-dandy shell account available when I want it.

      --
      Don't you wish your girlfriend was a geek like me?
    39. Re:When will this end? by Fastolfe · · Score: 1

      I didn't say everybody is an opportunistic douchebag, just that there will always be douchebags in the world, so it makes more sense to accept that fact and design "douchebag resistance" into everything that we build, rather than cry and try to weed them out later.

  4. About time someone made a report on this. by Girtych · · Score: 2, Interesting

    My coworkers and I have been dealing with AntiVirus XP and its variants for the past few months, and it seems to infect computers in exactly this way. Badvertisements. It's hardly a new phenomenon, but it's nice to see the press pick up on it. Better late than never.

  5. There's, What, Three Web Publishers, Right? by Quothz · · Score: 1
    From TFA:

    Web publishers say they have started limiting the number of companies they outsource their ad selling to and are working with security vendors, such as San Francisco-based ClickFacts, to detect malicious software on their networks and remove it as quickly as possible.

    I'm impressed! The Wall Street Journal talked to every Web publisher and got them to agree to do this. We should send Emily to go negotiate peace in the middle east.

    1. Re:There's, What, Three Web Publishers, Right? by The_mad_linguist · · Score: 1

      At least two publishers.

      Or, given how English works, technically zero works as well.

  6. So lucky me... by koolfy · · Score: 4, Informative

    ...having that "Disable Advertising" checkbox from Slashdot :)

    "As our way of thanking you for your positive contributions to Slashdot, you are eligible to disable advertising. "
    Thank you for preventing my Gentoo Linux system for being infec...

    Oh, wait...

    --
    Segmentation Fault in "Life, Universe and Everything" at line 42. Don't Panic.
    1. Re:So lucky me... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      While you may be a pro, not everyone is wise enough to remember USE="-malware"

    2. Re:So lucky me... by elashish14 · · Score: 1

      Hey, if anyone wanted to write a malicious script for Linux, where else would they go?

      Damn, we should feel so proud of ourselves.

      --
      I have left slashdot and am now on Soylent News. FUCK YOU DICE.
  7. I can see! by awarrenfells · · Score: 1

    Wait, they are just now realizing this? And here I had thought this was common knowledge, and that they were actually doing something to fight it.

    No wonder I couldn't see anything being done about it.

  8. Duh. by EkriirkE · · Score: 1

    Welcome to 1990 when Al Gore invented the intertubes.

    --
    from 09 F9 11 02 9D 74 E3 5B D8 41 56 C5 63 56 88 C0
    to 45 2F 6E 40 3C DF 10 71 4E 41 DF AA 25 7D 31 3F
  9. yes, but... by owlnation · · Score: 2, Insightful

    ... who clicks ads? (other than for click fraud purposes)

    1. Re:yes, but... by Krneki · · Score: 3, Funny

      Internet Explorer does. Internet Explorer is so awesome, you don't even need to click on an add to get infected. It's will do all automatically for you, there is this new wonderful M$ caching feature that keep clicking the whole Internet for you. Join the botnet close to your home now, all free today thanks to IE9! Remember, iexplore.exe will be always there for you.

      --
      Love many, trust a few, do harm to none.
    2. Re:yes, but... by debiansid · · Score: 1

      I did, the first time ever that I got access to the internet many years ago. It said that I was the 1,000,000th viewer and was eligible for some gift. Learned quickly after that — many don't.

      In many cases ad links are positioned in a manner that they look like they're part of your content or site links. That way many don't even realize that they're clicking on ads.

    3. Re:yes, but... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Remember, iexplore.exe will be always there for you.

      Often several copies of it in different system folders.

  10. A virus? How? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Clicking an add will load, via http, an html page (maybe with some javascript) that my web browser will display.

    A virus is a program that copies itself onto another program.

    How is a web page going to execute arbitrary software of the attacker's choosing, on my machine?

    The only way they can do this is if my browser is vulnerable to some kind of exploit.

    Web pages cannot contain viruses unless the browser that loads them is fucked up. A decent browser knows to never trust input from the public Internet.

    Ads link to malware sites?!? YAWN! Ads themselves are malware and should be blocked.

  11. The Next Ad You Click May Be a Virus by PaganRitual · · Score: 5, Funny

    Or it may win you ... A NEW CAR.

    Are you prepared to take that risk?

    Hmm ... that's not appearing like it should. It's spelt B-L-I-N-K, right?

    1. Re:The Next Ad You Click May Be a Virus by ACalcutt · · Score: 0
    2. Re:The Next Ad You Click May Be a Virus by cyberfunkr · · Score: 3, Funny

      Oblig Family Guy:

      Peter: A BOAT'S A BOAT, but the mystery box could be anything. IT COULD EVEN BE A BOAT. You know how much we wanted one of those.

    3. Re:The Next Ad You Click May Be a Virus by John+Hasler · · Score: 1

      Yes. The same ones who get suckered by spam.

      --
      Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
    4. Re:The Next Ad You Click May Be a Virus by mistahkurtz · · Score: 1

      ...people do that?

      --
      not only is time travel possible, it's irrelevant.
    5. Re:The Next Ad You Click May Be a Virus by StiLL-TrAiNinG · · Score: 0, Offtopic
    6. Re:The Next Ad You Click May Be a Virus by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Actually a friend of mine did win a new car from an internet site (many years ago). I saw the picture of him in the paper sitting in it! I couldn't believe my own eyes... Pity he didn't have a drivers licence though!

    7. Re:The Next Ad You Click May Be a Virus by Ironica · · Score: 1

      Pity he didn't have a drivers licence though!

      You can get those from the internet too.

      --
      Don't you wish your girlfriend was a geek like me?
  12. Creative? Huh? by pestie · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Another company's "creative?" What the hell does that mean? Is it some industry term for "crappy banner ad?"

    1. Re:Creative? Huh? by nvrrobx · · Score: 2, Informative

      Your answer, courtesy of Wikipedia:

      Creative (noun, in advertising), referring to materials, imagery, or collateral prescriptively produced through creativity and the creative process

      This is not specific to banner ads. This term is used in all forms of advertising.

    2. Re:Creative? Huh? by dbIII · · Score: 1

      It means the submitter lurnt how to wread under Raygun.
      No child left behind and ebonics for all!

    3. Re:Creative? Huh? by Gay+for+Linux · · Score: 1

      Or I worked for a startup that had advertising clients.

    4. Re:Creative? Huh? by dbIII · · Score: 1

      My mistake. I should have realised that the shiny doubleplusgood language was to catch the attention of drug addled brains of people that lurnt how to wread under Raygun, unless you have a much better class of advertisers over there.
      I'm committing the sin of making fun of the language people use on an international forum - feel free to ignore me but I just found "creative" as a noun funny.

  13. Re:A virus? How? by interkin3tic · · Score: 3, Funny

    Ads link to malware sites?!? YAWN!

    That was quite a loud yawn.

  14. Very simple asnwer by Archfeld · · Score: 2, Informative

    NEVER, NEVER, NEVER, I REPEAT NEVER EVER click an ad banner. If you see somthing you REALLY want to view get the source and go there in another browser window, but clicking thru an ad banner is somthing I can't ever remember doing in the entire time I've been on the net...

    --
    errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
    1. Re:Very simple asnwer by John+Hasler · · Score: 0, Flamebait

      > ...clicking thru an ad banner is somthing I can't ever remember doing in the entire time
      > I've been on the net...

      I can't ever remember seeing anything I want to view in an ad (but then, it's quite a while since I've seen an ad at all...)

      --
      Warning: this article may contain humor, sarcasm, parody, and perhaps even irony. Read at your own risk.
    2. Re:Very simple asnwer by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      The problem is that simply not-clicking is not enough. While the page of a less scrupulous video-host website sits in your browser, the ads will hurl viruses at your computer and if you're lucky your antivirus will alert you. I don't know which avenue the malware exploits (and which software is responsible), but Firefox is vulnerable.

    3. Re:Very simple asnwer by helpacoder · · Score: 1

      Good luck with that at times when the HTML is so obsfucated you can't immediately tell what the destination link is as it is buried under some Javascript stored in a file or whatnot.

      My 'favorites' are viewable images served up at 43-byte .GIF files when you right click them to get the properties -- People abusing(?) the HTML standard to try to hide their content from others so they can't copy it. If you know what you are doing, that is pointless--the content that is seen and wanted WILL get saved for later (private noncommercial?) use and enjoyment.

  15. And this is why... by FunPika · · Score: 2, Insightful

    We have a little something called Ad Block Plus.

    --
    After years of not using a signature, I am going to make one to say the following: Fuck Beta
    1. Re:And this is why... by Sporkinum · · Score: 1

      And that is why many informed users don't use Chrome, Safari, or IE.

      --
      "He's lost in a 'floyd hole"
    2. Re:And this is why... by indi0144 · · Score: 1

      I don't use ABP I prefer No-Script + SpyBot + Anal host file FTW. But, you know, whats the ABP share inside the 20% share that Firefox has in the browser market? I think this warning is more relevant for that guy that supports a shitload of corporate drones that use IE6 because of some random corp application.

      You don't have that little something thing called ABP there, because you know that Joe Accountant IS GOING to click on those "Lacoste SALE 60% OFF in everything!!!1!one" Would you be unaffected when all you neighbor's botnet traffic makes your gamez lag? zOMG it's a net not a collection of private islands!

  16. PC huh? by AnalPerfume · · Score: 1, Insightful

    "direct users to a Web site where harmful programs would be downloaded to their computers, says Stephen Wellman, director of community and content for Ziff Davis."

    Do these affect Linux or Apple PC's? I'm guessing it's the good old Windows .exe and .dll again, an exclusive Windows issue disguised as a "PC" issue.

    Why is it that areas where Microsoft want to portray a large market share (either exaggerated by reports from shills or real) they have the words Microsoft and Windows all over the stories, yet when it's something they have an almost 100% market share on (malware compatibility and vulnerability), there's no mention of either Microsoft or Windows; it's all just PCs.

    FAO the Microsoft Astroturfers, it was a rhetorical question but feel free to do your job and mod me down for pointing out the obvious. Wait, Ziff Davis does ring a familiar bell, hmmmmm.

    1. Re:PC huh? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      "direct users to a Web site where harmful programs would be downloaded to their computers, says Stephen Wellman, director of community and content for Ziff Davis."

      Do these affect Linux or Apple PC's? I'm guessing it's the good old Windows .exe and .dll again, an exclusive Windows issue disguised as a "PC" issue.

      Why is it that areas where Microsoft want to portray a large market share (either exaggerated by reports from shills or real) they have the words Microsoft and Windows all over the stories, yet when it's something they have an almost 100% market share on (malware compatibility and vulnerability), there's no mention of either Microsoft or Windows; it's all just PCs.

      FAO the Microsoft Astroturfers, it was a rhetorical question but feel free to do your job and mod me down for pointing out the obvious. Wait, Ziff Davis does ring a familiar bell, hmmmmm.

    2. Re:PC huh? by dnaumov · · Score: 3, Insightful

      "direct users to a Web site where harmful programs would be downloaded to their computers, says Stephen Wellman, director of community and content for Ziff Davis."

      Do these affect Linux or Apple PC's? I'm guessing it's the good old Windows .exe and .dll again, an exclusive Windows issue disguised as a "PC" issue.

      "direct users to a Web site where harmful programs would be downloaded to their computers, says Stephen Wellman, director of community and content for Ziff Davis."

      Do these affect Linux or Apple PC's? I'm guessing it's the good old Windows .exe and .dll again, an exclusive Windows issue disguised as a "PC" issue.

      Yes, this is a "PC" issue, more specifically it is a "moron PC user" issue. Trust me, if the Linux and Mac marketshare were actually worth targeting for malware writers, you would see the very same kind of malware attacks succeed, because if the user clicks "Yes" to all prompts, what's there to prevent the malware from doing it's thing if it's actually designed to run on Linux.

    3. Re:PC huh? by Colonel+Korn · · Score: 1

      "direct users to a Web site where harmful programs would be downloaded to their computers, says Stephen Wellman, director of community and content for Ziff Davis."

      Do these affect Linux or Apple PC's? I'm guessing it's the good old Windows .exe and .dll again, an exclusive Windows issue disguised as a "PC" issue.

      Why is it that areas where Microsoft want to portray a large market share (either exaggerated by reports from shills or real) they have the words Microsoft and Windows all over the stories, yet when it's something they have an almost 100% market share on (malware compatibility and vulnerability), there's no mention of either Microsoft or Windows; it's all just PCs.

      FAO the Microsoft Astroturfers, it was a rhetorical question but feel free to do your job and mod me down for pointing out the obvious. Wait, Ziff Davis does ring a familiar bell, hmmmmm.

      As far as I can tell it's an exclusively non-adblock user issue.

      --
      "I zero-index my hamsters" - Willtor (147206)
    4. Re:PC huh? by AnalPerfume · · Score: 0

      "if it's actually designed to run on Linux."

      Thank you for agreeing with me that this story is another Windows exclusive. The marketshare argument is bogus but it will attract more people to try and exploit Linux and Apple as their share grows. How successful they'll be is a different story.

      That is in the future though, right now, the story is about Windows, without the mention that it's a Windows exclusive issue. Yet again it's misrepresented as a PC issue, implying that you're vulnerable regardless of the OS you run, which is false.

      If the "targets being worthwhile" argument held, then Apple would be rich pickings. Apple users pay premium prices for their goods as they perceive them to be worth the money. They believe their products are immune from malware so won't run any anti-malware protection on their PCs. Apple have a set of default applications they include in OSX, so malware writers have a solid, stable and (supposedly) an unprotected target to aim for. Not only that, but it could be argued that since Apple users can pay premium prices, they are in a better position to be hit with ransomware. Yet, this is not happening, why not?

      When stories like this start doing OS detection and giving users code designed to exploit their OS, it's then a PC issue. When it only affects Windows, it's a Windows issue. It'd be nice if we had some proper journalists who are willing to stand up to Micrsofts bullies and tell the truth.

    5. Re:PC huh? by aj50 · · Score: 2, Insightful

      If you're an idiot, you're vulnerable no matter what OS you're running.

      Whether the site is offering you freeporn.exe or freeporn.sh doesn't matter so long as the user runs it.

      Sure, on a secure multi-user system you probably can't screw up everyone else's stuff like you can on Windows but setting a botnet daemon or a keylogger to run on user login is easy.

      --
      I wish to remain anomalous
    6. Re:PC huh? by Cro+Magnon · · Score: 1

      One difference is that in Windows (pre-Vista or probably Vista with UAC turned off), you don't even have to give a password to run nakedbritteny.exe. nakedbritteny.sh or nakedbrittany.dmg do require a password, which means some of the less stupid won't run it.

      --
      Slow down, cowboy! It has been 4 hours since you last posted. You must wait another few hours.
    7. Re:PC huh? by aj50 · · Score: 1

      No you don't, you would only need to enter a password if the script wanted root privileges.

      You don't need to be root to run a malicious program as the user who downloaded the program. Without root you can't mess with the whole system or with files belonging to other users but you can still log the user's keystrokes, you can still run a botnet daemon listening for incoming connections, you can still send out spam, you can still search though all the user's personal files, you can still alter the user's startup scripts to run the program again whenever they log in.

      --
      I wish to remain anomalous
  17. Not News To Me by GearheadX · · Score: 2, Insightful

    I've been cleaning crap off of computers installed by ad popups for the past year now.

  18. who clicks on ads? by Nomen+Publicus · · Score: 0

    Seriously, I can't recall the last time I clicked on an ad.

    1. Re:who clicks on ads? by bobstreo · · Score: 0

      I have ABP, what's an ad?

      --
      The average person uses their home PC for 2 things:
      1) PORN
      2) Sending email when they're not there.

    2. Re:who clicks on ads? by bobstreo · · Score: 0

      LOL Downvoted for ABP. Nice.

      You forgot the other extreme benefit of blocking ads, the pages load WAY FASTER when you're not waiting for the banner from some misbegotten slag heap of a server.

  19. People actually... by FungusCannon · · Score: 0

    ...click on ads?

  20. Re:A virus? How? by mkiwi · · Score: 0, Redundant

    The only way they can do this is if my browser is vulnerable to some kind of exploit.

    One such exploit could be Microsoft ActiveX. (There are legions of people who authorize that stuff without a second thought.)

  21. It's worse than that by Erik+Fish · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Not clicking on banner ads isn't enough. For years I've been fine with letting any non-Flash banner ad through, but I a few months ago I finally installed Adblock after finding one too many PDF exploits being loaded through banner ad display code.

    It works like this: You are minding your own business browsing some perfectly legitimate web site when suddenly you get a dialog box asking if you would like to execute the JavaScript in "this PDF document". There's no PDF in sight, no other windows, nothing else suspicious.

    Oh, but you only get this dialog if you have JavaScript disabled in Acrobat (most people don't).

    1. Re:It's worse than that by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Oh, but you only get this dialog if you have JavaScript disabled in Acrobat (most people don't).

      Or if you actually have Acrobat at all. I've been using GSview for both PS and PDF files and it has worked out fine. As a side benefit, GSview doesn't try to take over the browser, phone home, or randomly crash all the time. (It does have a nag screen, though. No one is perfect.)

    2. Re:It's worse than that by shermo · · Score: 1

      I'd like to tag this comment 'foxit'.

      In all seriousness though, wouldn't not having acrobat solve this particular problem? Or are you just suggesting that it's a sign of the increasing number of possible attack vectors?

      --
      Insanity: voting in the same two parties over and over again and expecting different results
    3. Re:It's worse than that by TubeSteak · · Score: 1

      It works like this: You are minding your own business browsing some perfectly legitimate web site when suddenly you get a dialog box asking if you would like to execute the JavaScript in "this PDF document". There's no PDF in sight, no other windows, nothing else suspicious.

      Oh, but you only get this dialog if you have JavaScript disabled in Acrobat (most people don't).

      I experienced just the opposite...
      I kept seeing those dialogs until i disabled javascript in Acrobat.
      Maybe you should go back and check to see if its disabled on your computer.

      I also complained to the sit owner, but I couldn't say if its been fixed, since I don't see the dialog anymore.

      --
      [Fuck Beta]
      o0t!
  22. Not only clicking will get you spyware by ACalcutt · · Score: 0

    You don't even need to click the ads. When I was using Adbrite for ads on my website I started getting driveby spyware just by visiting my website. It installed right from the ad (i'm guessing by way of flash). I dropped Adbrite and haven't looked back. Eventually google approved my adsense application and I am now using them...no problems since

  23. This could be devistating to adsense... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Hmm, if such activity continues on an uprise, such a thing could eventually severely hurt ad-sense and the like, which the company I work for makes virtually all their cash from.

  24. Who's clicking ads? by TenDimensions · · Score: 1

    I'm being half-serious because I've always wondered how money is being made selling ads. No one I've asked has ever clicked an ad.

    1. Re:Who's clicking ads? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      No one I've asked has ever knowingly clicked an ad.

      Fixed that for you. :)

      Ever moused over an ad? Even accidentally? Then you've "clicked" one. *sigh* me too, but not on purpose. :(

  25. The Next Ad You Click May Be a Virus by mistahkurtz · · Score: 1

    people do that?

    --
    not only is time travel possible, it's irrelevant.
  26. "A Few Months Back" My Ass... by memnoch37 · · Score: 1

    It must be nice under the rock they've been living under for these past few years...

  27. Not surprised by KingAlanI · · Score: 1

    Since I installed AdBlock Plus (for purposes of lowing annoyance level), I've noticed as a very pleasant side effect that my malware infection level has dropped tremendously.
    Barely need to run AdAware & SpyBot & co any more, and when I do [even when their definitions are fully updated], there's barely anything for them to find

    --
    I listen to both RIAA and non-RIAA stuff if I like the music, tangential business/politics nonwithstanding.
    1. Re:Not surprised by slash.duncan · · Score: 1

      Interesting. You actually get infections to clean up, and not just one here and there, but to the point you can talk about "malware infection level" as if it's routine?

      There's apparently millions like you, so you're not alone by far, and I'm glad that you're so honest about it, on a tech site where a lot of users (including me) either have never had an infection or wouldn't admit to it if they had, but wow, you're perhaps the first poster I've seen, certainly the first /. poster I've seen, that treats it as so absolutely routine that they can talk about the level of it as if it was the level of the water in the nearest river, or the level of traffic on the highway outside the window. That's sad and shocking, yet refreshingly honest and encouraging, that it has actually gotten to that point. There's plenty /. posters that talk about "the malware infection level" on the computers people bring to them for cleaning, but this is the first time I've seen anyone talk about it that way on their own machines. It's normally "that other guy's machine, poor uneducated user!"

      (Me? I've never had an infection as I always cared enough about security to spend a decent amount of time and energy staying current on security matters, etc, and since MS did what they did with eXPrivacy, I upgraded to Linux instead of that, and haven't looked back. The only proprietaryware I run is a 1993 update of Master of Orion, original DOS version, now run in (freedomware) DOSBOX. No proprietaryware kernel modules. No flash, nothing, as I can't agree to the EULAs, and I trust those who have such total disregard for what I consider natural and inalienable human rights as to assume that I'd even /consider/ agreeing to such things about as much as I trust other malware writers -- they obviously have about the same regard for my value as a free and thinking human being.

      Actually, come to think of it, so do many of the ad providers, targeting the programmable zombie level of humanity, those who can be influenced to buy something just because they see an ad telling them they need/want it a few times, instead of appealing to logic and reason. Really, that's part of the problem. It's the same programmable zombies that ads are the most effective with, that malware is most effective with. They don't seem to care or to even /want/ to care, or neither one would be particularly effective, much like a disease in a population where the vaccination level has reached an effective level, just a one-off here or there, not enough to maintain viability. That is, after all, what caring enough to get and act on the necessary knowledge to secure a computer is all about; it's a kind of vaccination of the populace, and were it to ever get to effective levels, neither ads as we know them nor malware would be viable any longer. Knowledge is indeed a powerful thing, but most people simply don't care, and, it's impossible to actually get enough to care, because doing so, where possible at all, is incredibly labor intensive.

      So I suppose ads and malware, much like poverty and evil, will always be with us...

      --
      Duncan
      "Every nonfree program has a lord, a master,
      and if you use the program, he is your master."
      R Stallman
    2. Re:Not surprised by KingAlanI · · Score: 1

      Okay, maybe my words were a little strong.
      I never really got infected with any seriously-damaging malware - I'm talking about the minor stuff that was only really bothersome in the aggregate.
      Even fairly healthy people (analogy: those with reasonable computer security habits) occasionally get minor colds or something (analogy: low-grade malware)

      I don't *get* regular infections, and I didn't have serious problems before, just saying that there's enough of a decrease post-AdBlock for it to be noticeable.

      And no, I'm not one of the morons who actually *clicks* on those ads.

      Oh yes, AdAware and Spybot are free but not Free. (Not) sorry if that pisses you off, Stallmanist.

      --
      I listen to both RIAA and non-RIAA stuff if I like the music, tangential business/politics nonwithstanding.
    3. Re:Not surprised by slash.duncan · · Score: 1

      Well, I suppose whether or not "even fairly healthy people" get infected with "low grade malware" does kind of depend on what one defines as malware. Some of those detectors at one point labeled all cookies as malware. I don't necessarily agree with that, and even then, cookies (along with scripting and the like) are controllable per-site these days, and I'd not call the cookies I choose to allow (/. login cookies, state (AZ) cookie for my bank, Linux Weekly News login cookie, Gentoo bugzilla login cookie, a limited few others), "malware".

      Web beacons aka web bugs I'd consider low-level malware, tho I run privoxy to kill many of those, and I doubt they come up on the malware detectors.

      But it's worth reposting something I wrote as a reply to someone claiming "because of his browsing habits" wasn't correct, when he picked up Antivirus 2008, and saw comments to that effect when he googled getting rid of it. Excerpt and summary (follow the link for the full post):

      Also, browsing habits could well be defined as inclusive of the platform you choose to browse from, and almost certainly would include your choice of browser. You don't here of so many getting infected running say firefox on MS, and even fewer running any of the even semi-common Linux platform browsers...

      [C]hanging just one of [the four:] adblocker, script-blocker, browser, browser-platform, would have likely made you immune. Change all four of them, still keeping in mind they all fit reasonably within the definition of browsing habits, and the chances of being infected by an ad that's blocked, requiring scripting that's turned off, targeting a browser you aren't running, on an OS that if you run at all, you don't consider secure enough to browse the web with, are practically nil!

      (FWIW, yes, I do acknowledge that firefox with scripting on and using un-updated plugins like Adobe Acrobat that have had recent holes... does get people infected occasionally, and that a few of them have been running it on Linux. From what I've seen, that's often a PEBCAK issue. You can't blame a condom for breaking if you lubed with Vaseline!)

      http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1029657&cid=25760993

      --
      Duncan
      "Every nonfree program has a lord, a master,
      and if you use the program, he is your master."
      R Stallman
    4. Re:Not surprised by KingAlanI · · Score: 1

      Nowadays, those programs only seem to pick on things called "tracking cookies" (?).
      Anyway, I'd like to manage cookies properly, there are some that I want to keep, so blanket "delete them all" I don't want.
      And there enough that I want to keep that I don't want to be buggered being prompted on every one, not to mention all those times when I *would* be wanting to click the 'no' button. (This seems reminiscent of the UAC problem just a bit)

      Don't lube condoms with Vaseline...good to know on the off-chance that I'll *need* to know, heh heh

      --
      I listen to both RIAA and non-RIAA stuff if I like the music, tangential business/politics nonwithstanding.
  28. Where's the news? by Opportunist · · Score: 1

    It's anything but news. And I'm not even talking about shady scareware or "come to the page and you already signed an abo for 2 years and 160 bucks" scams.

    Drive-by infection ad pages have appeared in noticable amounts about 2-3 years ago when iframe infections became en vogue. They were (and are) even actually quite professional, not just a copy of another company's page, they appear legit, but usually sell crap no person would actually want to buy (either overpriced or obviously bogus). But that's not the point. The point is to appear legit and like just some other page trying to hawk crap, so people don't wonder why someone would advertise a page with no content.

    Not that the average user would wonder, but ...

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  29. We allowed them in by Opportunist · · Score: 5, Interesting

    You know, back in the good ol' days of yore, when the internet was young and so were we, we created a beautiful garden. We, the geeks, we came together and we built. We created flowerbeds and hacked away the weed so people could find a path through the wilderness, we invited other geeks to join us in our creation so they would maybe build something even greater on top of ours. We looked at it and saw it was stunning and beautiful, and we looked outside for the "others", the "mundanes", the average guy and we thought, wouldn't it be a great idea if they, too, could see how beautiful and magical it all is? Imagine, when we, a handful of geeks, can create such wonders, what miracles are waiting for us to see if we just let others join in the creation?

    Sure, they were no gardeners, so we paved a few ways through our wonderland, lest they got their feet dirty on the muddy paths we used to walk on. And the people came. They came in, and they looked. Few wanted to create, actually, most just enjoyed the view (hey, how many gardening exhibits do you know where you can see exotic plants without having to pay admission?), some tried to plant but soon got fed up when they noticed they'd have to know a bit about gardening.

    And of course, in came also the ones that find pleasure in destruction, who wanted nothing but to destroy the creations. We had to fence them in, we had to hire guards for our creations so they wouldn't get destroyed. Often enough, those guards were not good enough and quite a few beauties are no more.

    Personally, I wonder if it was a good idea to unlock those doors and pave some ways.

    --
    We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    1. Re:We allowed them in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Insightful

      > Personally, I wonder if it was a good idea to unlock those doors and pave some ways.

      It was certainly NOT a good idea. It was, however, inevitable. Not you, not me, not anyone could have stopped it any more than you could have stopped the widespread use of the printing press. In fact, even *less* than you could have stopped that.

    2. Re:We allowed them in by IamGarageGuy+2 · · Score: 2, Funny

      I am interested in your ideas and would like to subscibe to your newsletter.

      --
      Stay tuned for new sig...
    3. Re:We allowed them in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Personally, I wonder if it was a good idea to unlock those doors and pave some ways.

      I had my second thoughts about that too, then I remembered that I spent most of the weekend following this guy, or this guy or this guy any one of whom, for the past 72 hours, were (and may still be) providing better (more factual and timely) reporting than CNN and BBC put together.

    4. Re:We allowed them in by Saija · · Score: 1

      You, Sir, are a poet, hope i could mod you +10 Insigthful and want to see more post like yours, Kudos.

      --
      Slashdot ya no es que lo era! ;)
    5. Re:We allowed them in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      Personally, I wonder if it was a good idea to unlock those doors and pave some ways.

      Yes, because that is what brought the innovation. We geeks could only take it so far before needing some help (i.e. money and resources).

    6. Re:We allowed them in by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      Really? We created easy access. Do you think Joe Randomuser would have jumped through the hoops that he faced if he wanted to connect 20 years ago? Do you think newsgroups would have attracted the amount of people that flashy webpages do?

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    7. Re:We allowed them in by chromas · · Score: 1

      You could just take the garden away and die for the people's destructiveness. Also, blame it on Mozilla and Python.

    8. Re:We allowed them in by Russellkhan · · Score: 1

      I think the AC was saying that the easy access would have been created one way or another, and I agree on the point.

      Nice sig, BTW.

      --
      Information doesn't want to be anthropomorphized anymore.
    9. Re:We allowed them in by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

      I always maintained that the internet was a far more enjoyable place before AOL connected to it.

    10. Re:We allowed them in by Aceticon · · Score: 1

      My recollections of Usenet flamewars, MUD griefing and how much everybody bitched and moaned when AOL started letting their subscribers use the Internet does not match your description of an Idyllic past and us receiving the "common man" with open arms.

    11. Re:We allowed them in by Jearil · · Score: 1

      Wow, that was nice. Quite visual and everything...

      Unfortunately this is slashdot, can you give me a car analogy?

    12. Re:We allowed them in by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      But certainly. We drove Segways and bicycles through our beautiful garden. Sure, it was a bit of a hassle, and we had to walk the last few yards so we don't step on anything, but it was nondestructive.

      Today, people drive their SUVs directly into the sculptures, take a pic of them, then run them over when trying to turn around.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
    13. Re:We allowed them in by Opportunist · · Score: 1

      It's said that reminiscence is a mild judge, in the way that you usually overstress the good and all too easily forget the bad, but looking back, I think the net was better while the average IQ was above room temperature. Even the flame wars were a lot more high brow and sophisticated, it was actually fun to read some rebuttals and comebacks.

      --
      We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
  30. How this works... by binaryseraph · · Score: 1

    "The labeling of the fake ad sellers as hackers is pretty bogus; there's no hacking involved. Simply sign up for one of these networks, create your fake site, put up another company's creative, and you're good to go."

    well yes and no. What we are dealing with here is a combination of both hacker (as i will describe shortly) and con artist (which i will also describe shortly). Its not quite as easy as you think...

    This problem extends well beyond ad networks- but first lets take a look at the ad serving software. The primary databases used for serving ads are DART (now owned by google), Atlas (now owned by microsoft), Zedo and OAS. Ads are uploaded into these databases in a variety of formats. Typically limited to Jpegs, gifs, .swfs as well as what is refered to as "rich media" which is often a few lines of code pasted into a file (usualy the code sources to a javascript) that serves up a redirected ad from another location. When these files are uploaded the database scans for malware that could potentially harm a computer system. More often than not these files are automatically turned off when the ad server detects an issue and emails the network administrator of the issue (presuming that the database of malicious software has been updated by the service provider a la google, microsoft, etc). Yes, on occasion something sneaks through.


    Now onto how media is bought and sold. Typically when a site is approached for a request for ads, the publisher will ask the "agency" or "network" for a credit check. This is wear the mechanics break down- more often than not. Salespeople, especially green ones who (like most sales people) are both anxious to close a deal on remnant space AND are not aware of the ad serving technology and the potential for malicious intent, will cut corners and get the ads up. When these ads come in, they are loaded into the server- 99% of the time as real properly functioning ads. They click to the right locations and pass through the ad serving security services. A couple of days later, as the ad has been serving fine, the redirected urls (typically something like ads.somewebsite.com/324234/adserver/creative.js) have their .js file swapped out with the malicious software. Since this file has already passed the initial security check- it is not always scanned again for any potential exploits etc.


    So- the quick solution is having ad networks and publishers take accountability for their sales people. It does not take much effort to find out if a "agency" can be trusted. I had one company recently try to pass of malicious ads but we traced their address back to a pizza parlor in LA (obviously a fake) after realizing no credit check was run. Second, and most important will be the methods of security taking by the major ad publishing softwares. Unfortunately, if you know anything about working with ad servers- critical updates move about as fast as html5 development (sllloooowww).

  31. Good reason to block ads at the corporate firewall by Animats · · Score: 2, Interesting

    This is a good reason to block all ad sites at your corporate firewall. You'll probably cut your Internet bandwidth usage in half, too.

  32. Marketroid wordsmithing is epic meh by jonaskoelker · · Score: 1

    This term is used in all forms of advertising.

    Why am I not surprised that this word is invented by a marketroid?

    1. Re:Marketroid wordsmithing is epic meh by indi0144 · · Score: 1

      Actually I bet you have been hit almost one time by those marketoids, lets say you build up your PC from scratch, you look after trusted reviews but those reviews are nothing more than advertisements done in a creative (pseudo-not-biased)way. Or when was the last time you got the exact benchmarks that those in the reviews with the same hardware they used?... when was the last time you used some shampoo and you turned like that handsome guy in the ads?

      Unless you're living on Cuba or north Korea I bet you've been charmed by that creative spell some way or another, and remember little grasshopper, Advertising is the only thing that makes capitalism palatable, or else I have some Victory cigarettes and Victory gin for you :)

  33. Riiiing! 1998 Called... by tunapez · · Score: 1

    They want their headline back!

    AdBlockPlus FTW!

    --
    Imagination drew in bold strokes, instantly serving hopes and fears, while knowledge advanced by slow increments...
  34. ... And this is news how? by znerk · · Score: 1

    To be honest, "fake" ads dragging you to a hateful, malware-spewing website is rather tame. The real fun was the banner ads that infected you directly, simply by viewing the flash.

    *Sigh*
    Just another reason to use adblock and noscript.

    --
    This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.
  35. Re:Foxit isn't a complete fix by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Foxit won't always help as there have been several security flaws that worked in both foxit and acrobat reader. Some worked as-is while others had to be modified slightly to compensate for things being at different memory addresses. You can make it harder by disabling javascript in foxit (much easer to do than acrobat) so that a malicious pdf can't tailor the exploit used to your specific reader software.

  36. Gotta ask a question... by Mashiki · · Score: 1

    So say someone clicks an ad at a reputable site to support them, which is actually malware which does 'software' damage(lost productivity, loss of PC uptime, etc) to a users PC by injecting something. Who becomes responsible? The end user? The content provider? Ad provider? Guy making the malware? Everyone? Last 3 people in the chain?

    Answers to this? I realize those of us in the /. crowd are technically inclined, but the average person isn't. I really do start to expect heads to start rolling over this.

    --
    Om, nomnomnom...
  37. Well... by AmigaMMC · · Score: 1

    That's what you get for clicking on ads. If I see something interesting I type the name of the company myself.

  38. It will HAVE to have been a virus! by dmomo · · Score: 1

    Because I sure as Hell ain't clicking on any ads, Honey. I blame the virus. I'm going to go dispose of these bad bad magazines right now.

    1. Re:It will HAVE to have been a virus! by EdIII · · Score: 1

      dispose of these bad bad magazines right now

      Depending on what you mean by "bad" and how "bad" these magazines are, I will help you dispose of them. I'll pay for shipping too.

  39. Ads? What are ads? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I don't see any ads because I've got Firefox with Adblock Plus and Flashblock. In my case it's just a preemptive step to allow me to be able to read the page I'm visiting. Most pages are slathered with ads and the actual content - what I'm there to see - is crammed into a tiny corner of the page. With all the blinking, flashing (and sometimes talking) ads and my borderline epilepsy I would never be able to concentrate on the content.

    I know this deprives the site operators of revenue but frankly I don't care. If you're enough of an asshole to put twenty ads on your page to compete with my attention for your content I don't mind shafting you. And I block Google's ads on principle. I don't really want Google to know what I'm doing every minute I'm on the Internet.

  40. They come from Windows-land by symbolset · · Score: 1

    The rest of us don't have to worry about this nonsense. If it bothers you, get a mac. They don't have this problem. Instead, we just click merrily away at any old thing that catches our interest for a moment. You would like it. It's called browsing.

    --
    Help stamp out iliturcy.
    1. Re:They come from Windows-land by AnalPerfume · · Score: 2, Insightful

      Admittedly it's very rare but Macs are not totally immune.

      http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/8096822.stm

      The answer for this is for both Mac and Linux users to unite behind open standards in protocols and formats, and in Apple's case, demand Apple install them on their stuff. Anytime a user (on any OS) has to install a plugin to see a piece of content on a website, they are potentially vulnerable to installing a fake or infected player. If players are pre-installed, the content shows with no need to install. There'd need to be a no-autostart option on people's browsers too, to prevent unwanted code running.

      Of course Microsoft and Apple, along with others like Adobe like using their own formats and protocols to help lock users in so they're not helping their own customers cause.

      It is time for users of all platforms to start demanding open standards, which benefit all of us, give us all choice and free us from being locked to any one vendor. Many *nix people have been calling for it for years, it's time that voice was strengthened.

  41. FFXI sites have been hit with these repeatedly by rodney+l.+stubbs · · Score: 1

    I know there were plenty of scammers specifically targeting Final Fantasy XI community sites with these types of exploits to nab account details from players (and I'm sure WoW and all the other major MMOs were targeted as well). IIRC, that kind of activity was heaviest throughout 2007 and into early '08, although it seems to have died down a lot lately. Folks who got infected found their accounts getting hijacked, with their in-game money and valuables being shuffled off to mule accounts, where they're in turn sold off for real money.

  42. What ads? by kheldan · · Score: 1

    All the more reason to use things like Adblock Plus, FLashblock, and NoScript (if you're using Firefox that is). I haven't seen an ad on my home or work computers in months.

    --
    Are YOU using the TOOL, or is the TOOL using YOU? Think about it!
  43. Seriously... by 2fuf · · Score: 1

    ...the next ad you click? Do people still do that?

    1. Re:Seriously... by Ltap · · Score: 1
      I have to be. This isn't the 90s - adblocking is trivial, with built-in protection from popup windows with most browsers (admittedly IE doesn't do it well, but that's no surprise) and with addons like ABP you can stop yourself from seeing the ads.

      Many of the people who view this site are involved in web design and own websites. I think that we should just stop with all these ads. They pay the website owner virtually nothing if pay-per-click, and even pay-per-view gives pittance. All the profits are funneled to people like Google. Ultimately, websites should do as slashdot does - have no ads for members. Even if your website has high bandwidth costs, ads just look unprofessional. I know this has been examined before, but I think those people who conclude that people will choose ads above cost are wrong - they ignore another crucial thing: speed. A website that loads quickly will be loved by users, it's one of the reasons why Google's web search succeeded. If there were no ads, everyone's web browsing would be noticeably faster and more enjoyable.

      ABP isn't just blocking ads - it's a boycott. No ads viewed, no revenue gained.

      --
      Yet Another Tech Blog
      (but so much more, including game and movie reviews)
      http://yanteb.peasantoid.org
  44. Mastercard and Visa by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0
    Isn't most of the malware due to Mastercard and Visa (and others) being quite happy to take their percentage of the money that the grifters, crooks and horse oil salesmen take in from the pillocks that buy their erectile dysfunction pills from some dodgy Interwebby site.

    If they started enforcing some rules and ensuring that the brainless pillock with a small dick and a credit card can only buy stuff from legitimate verified businesses then all the shite in the way of wonky banner ads, malware, scam and phishing sites would disappear overnight.

  45. Not bloody likely! by rts008 · · Score: 1

    I haven't even seen an ad in years...what am I going to click on that's not there?
    (Firefox-since 0.8ver.-before it was called Firefox, Adblock [plus], noscript, and flashblock)

    Does this advirus run on Linux?
    (kubuntu 5.04 thru 9.04-presently)

    --
    Down With Slashdot BETA!!! I've been around the corner and seen the oliphant; you can only abuse me from your perspecti
  46. Of course they are. That's why it's called... by Klistvud · · Score: 1, Funny

    ... "viral" marketing! Oh, honey, trust me, I'm not infected. I'll lick your abs if you click my ads!

    --
    Intellectual Property: an immaterial non-entity, most fiercely contended by those with no proper intellect to speak of.
  47. What last ad? by Hurricane78 · · Score: 1

    In case you did not know it: Average click-rates of ads on the Internet are even below the number of random clicks that people do in error. I know, because I worked at a large company, and my colleagues studied exactly that.
    0.1% click rate is something, that ad companies will open bottles of champagne about. Usually it's much less.
    Which can mean both, that ad-blockers are used more and more, and that people subconsciously click less on ads, even when they did not want to click there.
    In my eyes, all ad clicks on the net are such unwanted clicks, (and company-own-bots making some cash, ) and the whole industry is fake.
    The biggest joke is, that as those prices, they could also bill the user trough a micropayment. Because if I remember it correctly, 1000 clicks costed roughly 50 €. At 0.05% click rate, this is:
          50 € / 1000 clicks * 0.0005 (click rate) = 0.000025 € / page-view = 400 page views per cent that you pay.
    Now that is a price that we all can live with, isn't it? Hell, I would pay ten times that, and still be ok with it.
    All we need, is some micropayment system that can track all our page views, across all servers... Oh, wait!

    --
    Any sufficiently advanced intelligence is indistinguishable from stupidity.
  48. Botmaster webmaster or malware maker mod me down? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    So, who was it who modded me down "-1 Redundant"?

    Mr. Webmaster up there whom I replied to??

    OR

    Was it some blackhat/botmaster/malware maker type???

    (Perhaps it was a javascript coder who cannot handle that his "language" is busted badly in its DOM & causes all kinds of trouble online for others????)

    Guess what - I truly have "freedom of speech" in my nation, but also here on this website as well (& nothing can stop me either, because the "A/C" post limits certainly do not & haven't for nearly 5++ yrs. here).

    (After all - The types I mention now above, are the ONLY people whom my guide affects "adversely", & especially regarding HOSTS file usage & cutting off javascript usage indiscriminately everywhere, using it ONLY where a site cannot function properly w/out it)...

    AND, like my topic of my post stated?????

    Too bad for you webmasters!

    (Get YOUR act's together BETTER, then, along with those that host your bushwhacking adbanners full of bogus scripts)

    Because, once more: It's MY LINETIME, I pay for it, & tough cookies if you do not profit by getting adbanner clicks & such, you're NOT going to profit off of myself AND slow me down @ the same time (no way, & I'll tell everyone & anyone about this much + how to avoid it - @ 300,000++ views across 20++ forums or so this year? Good luck, the wave's started & others ARE "getting wind of it" & liking it, going both FASTER online AND more securely/safely also)...

    AND, too bad for you botmasters & malware makers, ESPECIALLY! (be they virus/trojan/spyware/worm etc. et al)

    See, I say that, because I KNOW that folks like myself are "getting to your kind" finally, as evidenced by Mr. Dancho Danchev's latest postings where YOU LOSERS IN PARTICULAR are definitely showing you're "taking a beating" by your very reactions of naming some of your bushwhacking site pages per ZDNet's Mr. Dancho Danchev's quote here -> http://ddanchev.blogspot.com/ via Mr. Danchev noting it also, via his statement also on that page of:

    ----

    "You know you have a fan club, as well as positive ROI out of your research, when one of the most active blackhat SEO groups for the time being starts cursing you in its multiple redirectors, in this particular case that's seo.hostia .ru/ddanchev-sock-my-dick.php."

    http://ddanchev.blogspot.com/ FROM HIS "From Ukrainian Blackhat SEO Gang With Love" ARTICLE

    ----

    LMAO @ the botmasters, malware makers, & idiots of the same general ilk as well... and, to whomever modded me down - I state that, because it's obvious it's one of "your kind" who did so!

    (You're the truly "lowest of the low", malware makers, alongside trolls online & the "wannabe english profs" (minus their PHD in English) that infest many sites technical sections on computing, & are totally off-topic w/ their spelling & grammar checking attempts but no actual proof of expertise in the English language to back it up (not that it'd matter - I've probably been speaking & writing this language longer than most of you & this site section isn't about "perfect grammar &/or spelling, making you fakes way, Way, WAY "Off topic"))

    And people wonder WHY I post here as "A/C"?

    Hey, imo @ least??

    Anyone STUPID enough to register here only sets themselves up for EASY TRACKING by trolls (such as the arstechnica bunch, or the 4chan gang & those like they, who are generally so "technically weak", that's about ALL they have, as far as actual technical expertise in this field which is NOT much & IS "off-topic" - I wonder if the coward who "modded me down" has enough cajones to admit it, & then let me "rip him apart" in response? DOUBTFUL - most of that kind are worse "Anonymous Cowards" than us "A/C" posters are, by far).

    And I

  49. Stickers by flameproof · · Score: 1

    As a house call tech, I eventually just made up some little 3 inch stickers to put on my customer's monitor: NEVER CLICK ON ADS. Best antivirus tool ever.

    --
    ~Just as a thing fails if it lacks a kernel, so too it fails if it lacks a skin. ~ Rumi, Discourses
  50. Re:Botmaster webmaster or malware maker mod me dow by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Insightful

    I think you got modded down because your posts read like Timecube.

  51. Not LaCoste by smoker2 · · Score: 1

    The name is Lacoste, due to the fact it was founded by legendary tennis player René Lacoste.
    Hardly surprising coming from a nation who think McDonalds is a restaurant instead of a burger bar.

    1. Re:Not LaCoste by PRMan · · Score: 1

      You mean McDonald's?

      Hardly surprising coming from a grammar Nazi.

      --
      Peter predicted that you would "deliberately forget" creation 2000 years ago...
  52. Whew! by rehtonAesoohC · · Score: 1

    Well it sure is a good thing Slashdot just let me disable their ads!

    What timing, I tell ya...

  53. Re:I don't think you have to click on them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Since most ads display in iFrames, and the ads that iframe displays are iframes themselves, couldn't the last iframe be displaying an ad that's actually some HTML containing a drive-by attack? That was the sense I got when I visited a site with infected ads, didn't click on any, and got infected anyway.

    P.S. I don't know why people are so hung up on ad block. What's the big deal? Pop-over/under ads are somewhat annoying, but the rest is just background noise. Ignore it.

  54. Re:I don't think you have to click on them by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    Since most ads display in iFrames, and the ads that iframe displays are iframes themselves, couldn't the last iframe be displaying an ad that's actually some HTML containing a drive-by attack? That was the sense I got when I visited a site with infected ads, didn't click on any, and got infected anyway.

    P.S. I don't know why people are so hung up on ad block. What's the big deal? Pop-over/under ads are somewhat annoying, but the rest is just background noise. Ignore it.

    Only Apple computers and PDAs surf the web now? When did that happen? I knew I slept well last night, but I did not think I woke up in an Apple rules web.

  55. THAT's the "best you have"? LMAO... apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    If THAT is the "best you have"? Thanks... no technical substance, nothing but trolling (I wonder who the dolt is who "modded you up")?

    I was "modded down" here, but even FUNNIER though, nearly the SAME POST from myself in another thread was modded up as "INSIGHTFUL" here -> http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1255487&cid=28197285 for the same ideas I posted here... lol!

    (Funny that, eh? Opinions vary - trolls like YOU though? Never do... & are TOO EASY to blow away, with contrary evidences such as my same ideas being modded up as they were in the link I just posted... lol!)

    Thanks for proving my point... & yet, I do not see valid technical disprovals of the points I had made either, & yet!

    APK

    P.S.=> Anyone is free to read this reply, and my previous one, as well as the same ideas being modded upwards in another thread here, & decide for themselves, so you trolling webmasters/botmasters/malware makers & javascripters? Thanks for making ME look good, & attacting others to my posts, they can decide for themselves here, after reading my replies, and you b.s., after all... I have NO problems with that! apk

  56. Modded down here, but modded up for same here too? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I was "modded down" here, but even FUNNIER though, nearly the SAME POST from myself in another thread was modded up as "INSIGHTFUL" here -> http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1255487&cid=28197285 for the same ideas I posted here... lol!

    (Funny that, eh? Opinions vary - trolls like the one that "modded me down" though? Never do, & hide from counter points or facing me directly as usual here... & are TOO EASY to blow away, with contrary evidences such as my same ideas being modded up as they were in the link I just posted... lol!)

    If THAT is the "best you have"? Thanks... no technical substance, nothing but trolling directed MY way with the mod down (pitiful boys, & this is "the great slashdot"?) Not impressed guys, you're inconsistent as well!

    SO - Thanks for proving my point... & yet, I do not see valid technical disprovals of the points I had made either... as per usual from the "trolls of slashdot"...

    APK

    P.S.=> Anyone is free to read this reply, and my previous one, as well as the same ideas being modded upwards in another thread here, & decide for themselves, so you trolling webmasters/botmasters/malware makers & javascripters? Thanks for making ME look good, & attracting others to my posts, they can decide for themselves here, after reading my replies, and you b.s., after all... I have NO problems with that! apk

  57. Mod this down, others modded it up trolls... lol! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I was "modded down" here, but even FUNNIER though, nearly the SAME POST from myself in another thread was modded up as "INSIGHTFUL" here -> http:///
    tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1255487&cid=28197285 for the same ideas I posted here... lol!

    (Funny that, eh? Opinions vary - trolls like the one that "modded me down" though? Never do, & hide from counter points or facing me directly as usual here... & are TOO EASY to blow away, with contrary evidences such as my same ideas being modded up as they were in the link I just posted... lol!)

    Dearest trolls: If THAT is the "best you have"? Thanks... no technical substance, nothing but trolling directed MY way with the mod down (pitiful boys, & this is "the great slashdot"?) Not impressed guys, you're inconsistent as well!

    SO - Thanks for proving my point... & yet, I do not see valid technical disprovals of the points I had made either... as per usual from the "trolls of slashdot"...

    APK

    P.S.=> Anyone is free to read this reply, and my previous one, as well as the same ideas being modded upwards in another thread here, & decide for themselves, so you trolling webmasters/botmasters/malware makers & javascripters? Thanks for making ME look good, & attracting others to my posts, they can decide for themselves here, after reading my replies, and you b.s., after all... I have NO problems with that! apk

  58. The next what that I what now? by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    I've never clicked on an ad and I never will. Yay, I get to not worry now!

  59. The person who modded you down's an ignorant troll by MEK_LoveBug · · Score: 0

    See my subject and this Oliver Day's SECURITYFOCUS.COM article titled "Resurrecting the Killfile" by Oliver Day, 2009-02-04 http://www.securityfocus.com/columnists/491 It seems that security experts tend to agree with you apk. Whoever modded you down is nothing more than some ignorant troll.

  60. Whoever modded parent down is an ignorant troll by MEK_LoveBug · · Score: 0

    See my subject and this Oliver Day SECURITYFOCUS.COM article titled "Resurrecting the Killfile" by Oliver Day, 2009-02-04 http://www.securityfocus.com/columnists/491 It seems that security experts tend to agree with you apk. Whoever modded you down is nothing more than some ignorant troll.

  61. Whoever modded parent down is an ignorant troll by MEK_LoveBug · · Score: 0

    See my subject and this Oliver Day's SECURITYFOCUS.COM article titled "Resurrecting the Killfile" by Oliver Day, 2009-02-04 http://www.securityfocus.com/columnists/491 It seems that security experts tend to agree with you apk. Whoever modded you down is nothing more than some ignorant troll.

  62. Do you have a PHD in English, or Dyslexia? apk by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    "I think you got modded down because your posts read like Timecube." - by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday June 16, @09:06AM (#28346611)

    Do you have a PHD in English? No?? Thought not. You have dyslexia, or ADD/ADHD, because your attention span is obviously deficient!

    (That, or the topical material was "too much" for your 'dull brain' to 'drink in & digest')...

    The latter points about ADD/ADHD, or Dyslexia on your part? That may not be your fault though - you're just "defective goods", lol!

    By the by - the SAME post I have made here before, that was 'modded down' above??

    LOL, it has been "modded up" before here -> http://tech.slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1255487&threshold=-1&commentsort=0&mode=thread&pid=28197285

    So, so much for your "thoughts & opinions", which lack ANY technical substance to them, whatsoever!

    (Hence, your posting as "A/C", & at least I 'sign off' on my A/C posts here (I don't register, because imo @ least?? Registered users are FOOLS - they are SO EASILY TRACKED HERE, for trolling purposes especially, it is NOT EVEN FUNNY!)

    APK

    P.S.=> You "trolls", thanks for modding me down actually - it attracts others to my posts (as "there is no 'bad press'"), & my rebuttals (to your substanceless b.s. replies & mod downs which lack any technical substance or proofs vs. my points) blow your kind away, with EASE... TOO easy! apk

  63. Another good point parent poster made on DNS by MEK_LoveBug · · Score: 0

    As usual ac apk makes another solid point in favor of HOSTS files usage online, and this time, versus the tyrannical oppression going on over in germany lately regarding DNS and port 53 monitoring and how custom hosts files with hardcoded ip addresses can get users around such things as logging requests for udp port 53 here http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1270901&cid=28364263 so once more my original reply calling whoever modded apk down an ignorant trolls stands and even moreso on top of security experts like securityfocus.com's Oliver Day also noting hosts files may be the thing to return to nowadays versus dns exploits and far more as apk states.

  64. HOSTS versus Black Day in Germany by apk by MEK_LoveBug · · Score: 0

    As usual ac apk makes another solid point in favor of HOSTS files usage online, and this time, versus the tyrannical oppression going on over in germany lately regarding DNS and port 53 monitoring and how custom hosts files with hardcoded ip addresses can get users around such things as logging requests for udp port 53 here http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1270901&cid=28364263 so once more my original reply calling whoever modded apk down an ignorant trolls stands and even moreso on top of security experts like securityfocus.com's Oliver Day also noting hosts files may be the thing to return to nowadays versus dns exploits and far more as apk states in his original post here which was modded down by some troll.

  65. Cookies, condoms and lube (NSFW?) by slash.duncan · · Score: 1

    [mods, please don't mod this one up beyond 1. I'm not using my karma bonus either, as I don't want anyone coming across the whole open post at work, without seeing the warning first, just in case there's a humorless censor policy involved. But I stand by my posts and therefore it's not AC. If I lose a potential job as a result, so be it, I'd be unhappy working there anyway.]

    I expect all cookies are "tracking cookies" to the malware detector, tho it may not see the per-session cookies at all, because most browsers keep those in memory only -- they never hit disk.

    FWIW, for cookies, a decent browser these days allows per-site choice. You set a default (which is off, here, or ask, I'd never consider on a valid cookie default), and then have per-site exceptions. For ask, the default answer to the prompt should then be no, with the remember my choice set, so it remembers it for that site. In this way, in a week or two, the sites one normally makes the rounds of are already set and the level of bother drops dramatically.

    Another option that helps is the turn all cookies into session cookies option (IOW, don't honor the expires tag, since no tag is assumed by convention to mean session only). The way I work it here, I have privoxy set to session cookies only, thus stripping the expires tag off of all cookies it sees (it doesn't handle https at all, passing it straight thru unfiltered, so those cookies get thru with the expires tag intact.) Then I set the browser's cookie options as I want, normally off with exceptions tho that's not so critical now, and don't worry about it, because they'll all be forgotten at the end of the session anyway. If I want a particular site's cookies saved, I set an exception in privoxy first, so the cookies for that site now come in with expires tags, and then set the browser options to save cookies for that site (the option can usually handle downn to specific URLs if desired, but per-site is generally good enough and much less management hassle).

    If all cookies are treated as session cookies, it eliminates the cookie issues on shopping sites and the like, but login cookies aren't saved between sessions, so you have to login once every new browser session.

    FWIW on the condoms thing, it's simply the oil vs water based lube deal. Oil eats rubber, so for both condoms and rubber/silicon/plastic sex toys, oil-based lubes, including vaseline, are a no-no. Water based lubes such as the various glycerin/water based lubricating jellies (KY, and most of the stuff you'd see at sex shops these days too, since oil damage to both condoms and toys is well known in the industry, and it can be a literally life and death thing when you're depending on that condom to prevent AIDS) are fine with rubber, etc. However, water/glycerin based tends to dry out faster than oil under conditions where lube may be needed in the first place, and applying more can make it too thick after awhile, so if that is found to be an issue, rather than going back to oil as one may be tempted to do, consider simply keeping a squirt bottle of water or water pre-thinned lube around, to renew the moisture level only, when necessary.

    Wow, I feel like I was just browsing around, and just came across and edited a wikipedia article on some kink or another now, for some reason! =:^)

    --
    Duncan
    "Every nonfree program has a lord, a master,
    and if you use the program, he is your master."
    R Stallman
  66. Trolls? See here, in regards to more on HOSTS... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 0

    http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=1270901&cid=28364263 So much for your trollish b.s. that has no technical merits whatsoever, eh Trolls? I strongly suspect that would actually work, when not much else would or as easily, vs. udp port 53 DNS requests by users (vs. the tyrannical measure being put in place in Germany lately online).

    (Heh - Between that, my original post, & what MEK put up regarding HOSTS from securityfocus.com, it has TRULY been a pleasure watching you all RUN LIKE SCARED RABBITS from backing up your mod down of myself and also lacking any technical backing vs. my original points here, as regards HOSTS file usage)...

    APK

    P.S.=> Nothing like putting ccwardly trolls in their places... they're the worst "A/C's" of all, & this site? It's RIDDLED with them... apk