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Hacked Ad Seen on MySpace Served Spyware to a Million »

Posted by: Dygital 2 years, 11 months ago

Archived 15

An online banner advertisement that ran on MySpace.com and other sites over the past week used a Windows security flaw to infect more than a million users with spyware when people merely browsed the sites with unpatched versions of Windows, according to data collected by iDefense, a Verisign company.

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Submitted By:

Dygital

http://www.joemanna.com/blog/

This Story is Archived and Commenting is Closed

Comments: 6

Avg rating: (+2/-0 2)
urban-grafix
July 20, 2006, 12:11 a.m.
Ha!! For reasons like this is why I don't have a MYSpace account :)
Avg rating: (+5/-0 5)
debraford123
July 20, 2006, 2:47 a.m.
To Urban Grafix, in particular:
Since, the hack was in "a banner ad" that activated the virus after the banner had been clicked, it is a danger not limited to myspace. Any deviant could do the same and actually pass any prescreening of their ad, by placing the sequence of commands in after the general banner had been approved. The risk affected those who clicked the ad and accepted a command that was known to have been patched. The risk affected those who had not yet received the fix on their systems. It may be in our best interest to take note of what happens on networks that we are not even on, because it reminds you of the importance of being cautious regardless to which network you choose.
Thank you debraford123
Avg rating: (+4/-0 4)
tong
July 20, 2006, 3:03 a.m.
I read the article and I thought it said that you got infected just by visiting the page the hacked ad was on, not by clicking it.
Avg rating: (+0/-0 0)
pt69
July 20, 2006, 1:46 p.m.
Did debraford thank herself for her contribution? Thank you PT69.
Avg rating: (+4/-0 4)
Scott-O-Rama
July 20, 2006, 4:28 p.m.
Another reason I am glad I have a Mac.
Avg rating: (+0/-0 0)
debraford123
July 28, 2006, 2:02 a.m.
Tong - Yes you merely browse the banner, but your computer with the safety measure asks you if you want to open the associated file. Now if you said yes then you get the virus. So the correction is not "click the ad" but "clicked acceptance for the ad's required file handler". If you donot have your computer set to block or check it is automatic. Also if you are running a system that doesn't have these preventive measures and u atomaically open everything downloaded on a site then you are in danger wherever these type of banners appear.
Scottorama -Even if you have a Mac and you are visiting sites that were created on a windows operating system then your machine handles windows files also.
pt69 - No I didnot thank myself for the comment, I thanked dygital for the tolerance to allow me to place such an extensive comment on his story. It may have been better if YOU had put "forgive me for being a rude smart alec instead of thank you". I'm making a contribution, I'm not just bored.