The redirect isn't triggered on every visit, so it's been hard to track, but watch the video for a walkthrough of what exactly happens. The easiest thing to do to get out of the malware loop is force-quit your browser—it's likely you can even go back to the website you were on and not have to worry about the ad being triggered again. But it's embarrassing for DoubleClick (and troubling to us) because it shows they don't have the ability to screen and catch malware that's hidden inside Flash files. The company has announced that it's implemented a new security system to catch and disable these ads, but it hasn't yet confirmed that it can identify similar ads in the future that might use the same technique.
"Hackers Use Banner Ads on Major Sites to Hijack Your PC" [Wired]
RELATED
"Canada.com Infected With Trojan-Installation Browser Hijack" [Sudosu]
"Rogue Anti-Virus Slimeballs Hide Malware in Ads" [Wired]
(Photo: Getty)
I really can't stand jerks who automatically assume that all mac users are smug assholes. Pot, meet kettle.
]]>This is exactly what I have done, Firefox and adblock combination is just awesome. Anytime I visit a site I haven't visited before, I'll quickly look it over, and see if there are any ads. A few clicks of the mouse and I've blocked the ad server. The trick is to not just block that ad, but the server the ads are coming from.
]]>i'd gladly purchase your mac for $50. =)
]]>Or, for those people that value their time, simply buy a Mac. Everything works straight out of the box, simply and elegantly.
I'm confused by the stick-it-to-the-man people eschewing Windows for Linux. You're BUYING Windows anyway, unless you build your own box from components (thus even further removing it from the realm of being a simple solution for non-hobbyists).
So, fork over money to buy a box that runs an insecure OS that you're going to gut, but fund the guys that developed the crappy OS that made you want to switch in the first place? That's teaching them a lesson!
]]>i'm screwing around with ubuntu right now & i love the interface - it's more intuitive than windows, but it's definitely not a full replacement for windows. it requires a lot of tweaking, learning & finding programs that do roughly what you're looking for. i won't lie to you - you'll find yourself wondering at times if giving up the windows is worth the sacrifices you're gonna make.
the biggest problem is that a lot of open source software is not fully packaged like retail software. take, for example, gnucash. easy to install & easy to use...unless you need the help documentation. that's a whole separate can of worms (that this user gave up on). or take gdesklets (for desktop widgets)...most of the widgets offered up in the program are outdated/broken, so you have to do the legwork to find working ones on the web.
on the bright side, virtually every problem you'll encounter has been encountered before & the fixes are easy to find with simple web searches.
i would recommend creating a dual-boot environment on your existing pc so that you can experience linux & determine if it's right for you. if you find that you're booting into windows less & less often, make the switch permanently.
]]>Err, try "on any poorly-written, designed from the ground-up to be insecure OS is possible."
]]>Problem solved.
]]>That's why I block all off-site hosted ads with AdBlock. The only ads I see on most sites (unfortunately due to this personal policy) are Google Ads. Most of hardocp.com's ads show up so I'm liking them for stepping up and hosting their own ads.
]]>Scriptblock is the best response. The default setting is to NOT allow the video.
]]>@Jaysyn: Yes, but they're still working on instituting the Double-Secret Extra Smugness Linux Surcharge.
]]>@trai_dep: I thought I was going to be the first...
@Jaysyn: I'm staying out of this one.
@trai_dep:
Or just use Linux if you don't want to pay the "trendy" tax. Or a buy new PC.
You do realize that a Mac isn't a magic bullet, right? There are reasons they release security patches for OSX.
]]>I have no idea what doubleclick is. I think I blocked it about a year ago with Opera. Haven't seen it since...
]]>I'm cautiously optimistic that Google could clean up Doubleclick. OTOH, this isn't something that Doubleclick was necessarily aware of, and as long as Google ends up serving the same kinds of ads, it won't matter who owns it.
]]>Had this come up on Epicurious last week. Glad someone's getting to the bottom of it.
]]>Anyway, I only get this on IE, with FireFox, I have AdLock so there is not a problem.
]]>Every time I see malware/spam ads for anti-spam/anti-virus/anti-spyware, I wonder how effective they are. Are people really dumb enough to buy anti-spyware that was sold to them by spyware?
...well, probably.
]]>when I said "jerks", I meant doubleclick - not consumerist.com which I think is great.
]]>You know, this very site (consumerist.com) uses doubleclick.net. Put your cursor above the "back" button and you will see it display a hyperlink to ad.doubleclick dot net. I have my hosts file with the doubleclick rerouted to 127.0.0.0 so those jerks don't track my information. Google "how to use hosts" file to use it, or use firefox with adblock.
]]>I get an infection, then avg or spybot destroys it, the game continues. If people just learned how to handle this crap, it wouldn't be much of a problem at all. I've got 1 virus in maybe 10 years that i had to remove on my own as anti-virus could not deal w/ it. I'm not afraid to open attachments, click links, execute .exe files because if it does mess up, I know how to fix it. Simple really if people would only take an hour on google to learn how.
]]>