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New York Times Site Pop-Up Says Your Computer Is Infected

Posted by timothy on from the if-you're-reading-this-you-have-a-virus dept.

Zott writes "Apparently, 'some readers' of the New York Times site are getting a bit more with their news: an apparently syndicated adware popup with a faux virus scan of the user's computer indicating they are infected, and a link to go download a fix now. It's entertaining when a Mac user gets it, but clearly downloading an .exe file isn't a good way to keep your computer clean ..." Update: 09/14 03:20 GMT by T : Troy encountered this malware, "and did basic forensics. Summary: iframe ad then series of HTML/JS redirects, ending at a fake virus scanner page with a "Scan" link (made to look like a dialog box button) that downloaded malware." Nice explanation!

4 of 403 comments (clear)

  1. It's very entertaining. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Insightful

    I think it's actually more entertaining when I don't get it at all on any platform, because I disabled javascript.

  2. Happened to my Parents by QuantumG · · Score: 5, Insightful

    What really annoys me is that these things are most effective because they use javascript alerts to freeze the browser. If you could just browse away from the crap, I could teach my parents just to ignore it.

    "Javascript alerts are not tab modal" has been a known bug in Firefox going on 9 years now. It's not just an annoyance, it's a security bug, fix it!

     

    --
    How we know is more important than what we know.
  3. Re:It happens on Linux too by eric31415927 · · Score: 5, Insightful

    Two years ago, I got my 67-year-old mother online with a Debian (stable) box for web browsing, emailing, and printing.
    At least twice in these two years, she has come across web pages warning that her operating system has been infected with a virus.
    The web pages make it look like she has an infected Windows system - similar to the link from the NYT web page.

    I reassure her each time that her computer has not been infected, and it is not likely to ever be infected so long as she is careful with her password.
    I would like Firefox (or in her case IceWeasel) to have a plugin to avoid loading pages that look like Windows Explorer.
    This would save people like my mother and businesses like the NYT from undue stress.

  4. HOSTS file and noscript by davidshewitt · · Score: 5, Insightful

    ...seem to do the trick for me. I put this huge list of malicious sites into my HOSTS file, so most ads never even show up. http://www.grc.com/sn/hosts_mvps_org.txt