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Heidi — How Malware Works Via Banner Ads
Published: 2012-01-06 00:54:45 +0000 UTC; Views: 26996; Favourites: 147; Downloads: 0
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Description
by $Heidi
How Malware Works Via Banner Ads
As many deviants know, deviantART has been working hard to combat malicious banner ads that infiltrate
our advertising network, and we've previously addressed this issue in
April 2011
and August 2011 .
In our ongoing effort to keep the deviantART community safe, we wanted to share the following
USA Today-produced
video that explains how malicious ads inundate the Web.
How Malicous Ads Inundate the Web
(Source: USA Today )
Protect Yourself
Malware advertising is an Internet-wide problem that affects many of the Net's top sites.
Keeping your browser up to date is one of the best ways to ensure your computer's safety.
Additionally, anti-virus programs offer another level of protection against malvertisements.
We strongly recommend that you download the latest version of your favorite browser.
Reports of Malware and Virus Advertisements
Our Ongoing Battle Against Malicious Ads
Related content
Comments: 769
I think I get Adware from these ads, but I'm only Semi-sure that is true.
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(I was just attacked this morning by banner ad. Avast stopped it. still not sure if im ok.
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One of the youngest members of the site could do a better editing job on that video than the hashup they seem to have done with this.
Oh well, gotta love my subscription.
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So far, you guys are doing a pretty good job. Back in the day, I had to install Firefox and the AdBlock program just to access this site. Bugged me a bit because I like Internet Explorer and I hate having more than one browser on my PC. Since you have made security here the top priority though, I was finally able to uninstall Firefox and go back to Internet Explorer and so far...no attacks have occured. If any do occur though, then thank goodness for avast!, Malwarebytes and Windows Defender.
(^_^)
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finally my voice heard by some authorities on dA. I've been blocking your ads to keep my computer safe, and you know what I'll keep blocking them!
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This just happened to me. The virus was called "Vista Antivirus 2012". It completely disabled my McAfee antivirus software and took over my computer. I had to jump through a lot of hoops to get it removed, but i was able to successfully remove it!
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That happened to me too! 
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Oh, that "upgrade your browser" thing again. I still won't. New browsers are next to unusable, with the UIs of all major browsers looking the same and some newer ones working slower (try comparing Opera 11.11 and 10.63).
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You're right
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I never will turn off my Ad-blocker Plus still, sorry. I learned my lesson 3 years ago. From this site actually.
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Malware are really "Mal"! xD
"Mal" means "Bad" in portuguese. o/
Thanks for sharing this video with us. ^.^
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"Mal" means crappy in any Latin based language 
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Awesome! Yo lo ablo megor que lo escribo. ><
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another good way if you cant afford virus protection is to use NOSCRIPT its an add-on to webbrowsers that STOP java script as well as flash files. They will only activate upon your request. No this isnt an advertisement for this product because well i hate that.. i just like it is all and hate freaking trojans/virus'/etc....
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"...can't afford virus protection..." ?!
Avast Antivirus is free!
Between the Avast free edition, Mozilla AdBlock Plus, and Malwarebytes (all free), I haven't had a virus scare in a long time.
(the last one was that Fake Antivirus trojan from dA... when I was first introduced to MalwareBytes.)
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NoScript site is here: noscript.net
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which antivirus would you suggest that works best with DA?
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Hi MoonShadow:
* I am actually using 2 of them but minju, I am also running Windows XP so that might not be best for a Win7 or WinVista computer.
That is:
(1) Microsoft Essentials
and
(2) Avast! Free Anti-virus
I am using Chrome Browser. (And you need to know that you never update it, it updates itself, without your permission - which is kind of cheeky of them, but that's what you get for a free browser).
Anyways, I use that and AdBlockPlus, a free plugin for Chrome which blocks =ALL= ads from every single website, no matter what and where.
Occasionally a really malicious ad will get through (like the hidden audio one I talked about earlier), but other Flash and video advertising pop-ups cannot get through it.
I - doubt we would need to have so many protective measures today if advertisers played by the rules, and clearly they have demonstrated time and time again that they will not, they don't plan to, and they never will ...
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Firefox also has AdBlockPlus just so everyone knows~
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Ads are not the problem (addressing several people). I think the question is, if DeviantART does not thoroughly investigate advertisers who sneakily run malware in their place. And this is not something new and has been going on since the internet first appeared.
That would be something to catch. And no, it's not easy and you're certainly not going to get 100% honest and truthful answers from the advertisers, or they could be infected by virii themselves sending it directly in their ads. There are many ways of looking at it.
Clearly several of us block malware today because many are disguised as harmless ads, and they're not. That's why we block ads. The only reason, really.
Whatever happened to the regulation 468x60 pixel JPG ? I thought that was wonderful and I even found myself clicking on a few of them to see what they offered.
Nope, now you have ads that are FLASH and dare you to accidentally track your mouse over them so they can fill more space than their regular alottment or wickedly install malware.
And this is being done more and more often.
They run an internet advertisement that not only blares through your speaker but that lovely pause and stop button they include below it just do not work anymore and are clearly decorative in nature. And they chomp up your system bandwidth and eat up your CPU %.
Or you might get a real treat of an invisible ad that has no window but blares through your speaker, deliberately locking your pc CPU % to 100 so you can't close the window until the ad finishes. I've run across these several times now.
* Ads aren't the problem, it's the advertisers.
They're getting braver and breaking more and more rules today and they really don't care about anything or anyone just so long as they get paid for shoving their ad down your choking throat.
If DeviantART wants ads, I'm all for that, but let's get back to regulation, non-animated, non-pop-up, non-audio, non-flash ads like they're used to be.
A simple 468x60 JPEG image on every site that is paid for by ads would be more than sufficient than what has happened to the majority of high-traffic sites today where Flash has gotten =WAY= out of control and is more obnoxious and belligerent than ever.
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Block the ads with AdBlock Plus and you'll be A-OK
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I had to do that because EVERY TIME I came to Deviantart, I'd get a virus and I didn't even click on any ads. I didn't blame them, but jeeze, it was ridiculous.
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It's great to see dA paying attention to this problem. Currently I only browse dA with FireFox/AdBlock Plus and NoScript. I had too many rogue antivirus attempts and a couple too many successful installations.
It's a complex problem. The desire for more dynamic content always results in compromise to security. I really think it all comes to the strong integration between the browser and the operating system, especially in Windows, due to ActiveX/COM. COM has too much power and gives too much power to any script. Flash, cross-domain scripts and iframes...
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Instead of blocking site functionality for those with older browsers, how about you block the Ads on those browsers. After all, if it's such an "insignificant user base". Or is the takeaway supposed to be that seeing ads is more important than seeing/creating art?
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For all intents and purposes, AdBlock Plus
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It's not about seeing ads vs. seeing art. Like it or not, just like most other free usage sites (eg. facebook; youtube), ads pay for this site to run. If you want to rid yourself of ads, why don't you just buy a subscription to take the place of the money generated by ads.
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This arcticle comes right on the heels of dA complaining that users of older browsers experience more bugs and malware attacks and that they are tired of getting the bug/spam reports.
I am annoyed that they chose to block functional site control, instead of the Bug Report button.
As you say, QuantumSpectre, by viewing ads I am generating money for this site. If they want me to continue to view ads, they need to return my expected functionality.
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I understand your English, but I'm not sure that I understand what you mean.
Unless I'm misreading something, nowhere does it say that they are blocking functional control of browsers outside of those listed above. In addition, many sites recommend that you use the most up-to-date version of one of the five browsers that they listed.
Furthermore, all of the five browsers listed above are free to download. The deviantART website is blocked in most public places like schools or libraries. Where do you compute that limits your authority to download a better browser such as one of those listed above?
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dA has blocked the control area with a yellow bar that only appears in unsupported browsers. It prevents access to messages, submission, pretty much everything along the very top of the page. It is an annoyance, an unneccisary, and the only issue I've ever had with dA's functionality.
I liken this browser issue to buying ice cream, but having the vendor smash the cone because he disagreed with my choice of flavor.
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I just re-installed Chrome from the link in this journal. Hope it helps.
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That's no reason to disable acces if you don't upgrade your browser
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Thanks for reminding me about how I got infected with a trojan from a banner ad from this site.
Firefox with Adblock Plus for the win.
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Follow the FireFox users and shut off the adds altogether, you guys have enough cash to spare anyways; remember the airline tickets for those two deviants from outside of the country and their grand tour of DA headquarters.
You spent money on that and a world tour, so it's not like you guys are in the red.
Just kill the adds, at some point most everyone will be using an Ad Blocker in some form anyhow.
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It only installs on Windows computers. Linux does not allow it, thanks to separation between user (your everyday account) and admin (root) roles - only root can install software.There are also moe advanced means of protecting yourself (Role-Based Access Control [RBAC] systems, like grsecurity, RSBAC or SELinux).
Windows is (and always was) obsolete.
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Firefox with NoScrips add-on prevents all this malicious garbage from running. I used to have to unplug my computer to kill this kind of junk when I ended up on a site with these idiot's hostage warez. They buy ads on Google Adwords as well, and all you have to do is click on some sponsored links and they infect you.
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I always accidently click the ad's,when the screen suddenly scrolls or something, and the mouse ends up clicking on an ad instead of what I wanted to click.
I think Non-Members shoudl be able to delete ad's if they want to. If not, then DeviantArt wants to give Non-Members viruses.
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