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."

Comments

Re:what ads?

[Jurily]

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.