28 Fake Ad Agencies for Malvertising Campaign - Page 1
Forum section: electronics / general

author: hammy
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 27, 2018, 11:48:23 am
content: Its a real dilemma for people who run a website and want to earn money with ads. You cannot trust these agencies any more ... and you put your visitors at risk!"Crooks Created 28 Fake Ad Agencies to Disguise Massive Malvertising Campaign"https://www.bleepingcomputer.com/news/security/crooks-created-28-fake-ad-agencies-to-disguise-massive-malvertising-campaign/"A group of cyber-criminals created 28 fake ad agencies and bought over 1 billion ad views in 2017, which they used to deliver malicious ads that redirected unsuspecting users to tech support scams or sneaky pages peddling malware-laden software updates or software installers."Cheershammy

author: Karel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 27, 2018, 12:17:52 pm
content: Quote from: hammy on January 27, 2018, 11:48:23 amI couldn't care less. I always use Firefox with adblock, privacy badger, don't accept third party cookies and all other cookies will be deleted when I close Firefox.I don't whitelist anything. If I can not visit a website anymore because of that, I simply accept that and will not visit it anymore.If that means that, if too many people start doing like me, those websites will disappear and the internet will turn back into the statelike it was before is was "commercialized", the sooner the better.

author: Cliff Matthews
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 27, 2018, 12:43:36 pm
content: Another Firefox fan here. I stopped using corporate intrusive snoop browsers years ago. I also stopped using Adblock when they sold-out to Google Microslop and others by allowing ads. A good substitute is herehttps://www.maketecheasier.com/ublock-origin-better-than-adblock-plus/.You mentioned Privacy badger.. is this something like a better No-Script?

author: janoc
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 27, 2018, 01:03:16 pm
content: Don't worry, you can always buy ads for your website from outfits like Google's Doubleclick - oh wait, they will run coin mining javascript and install malware on your visitors' computers too ...https://arstechnica.com/information-technology/2018/01/now-even-youtube-serves-ads-with-cpu-draining-cryptocurrency-miners/If you decide to run ads on your website and are worried about your visitors, well, just don't run ad network ads and find a more sustainable business model. The advertising ecosystem is so profoundly broken and so easy to abuse that there is no way around this today.

author: Karel
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 27, 2018, 01:22:24 pm
content: Quote from: Cliff Matthews on January 27, 2018, 12:43:36 pmhttps://www.eff.org/privacybadger

author: SeanB
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 27, 2018, 01:37:54 pm
content: Noscript turns off the site ability to run scripting per domain, so it removes the cycle stealing scripts but leaves the basic HTML running. Good on all sites, and can block all non same origin sites from loading the ad scripts. Privacybadger is different and blocks the requests and info that allows tracking of you online. You can run either or both of them.

author: hammy
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 27, 2018, 02:27:55 pm
content: This internet is sooo bad!I'm runningpiholein my network and during normal surfin already 20-25% of all dns requests are blocked. It's unbeliveable how much crap is out there!Is there anything comparable in real world running so bad and utterly fubar that is not shut down?

author: Cliff Matthews
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 27, 2018, 03:20:07 pm
content: Quote from: hammy on January 27, 2018, 02:27:55 pmThanks, I saw also it can just sit and log DNS activity (so I can get a good look at the corruption out there) nasty world we live in..https://www.reddit.com/r/pihole/comments/73tvxv/would_it_be_possible_to_let_pihole_monitor/

author: madires
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 27, 2018, 04:08:02 pm
content: The internet isn't bad. Bad people misusing the internet are the problem.

author: Cyberdragon
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 27, 2018, 07:39:44 pm
content: Quote from: Cliff Matthews on January 27, 2018, 12:43:36 pmI'll have to give that a try. Most websites that have ads all over the page that aren't by a large corporation are invested by viruses, especially stuff like dodgey download or pirate sites obviously. But there are a lot even just looking for mundane things now like music lyrics or celebrity news.

author: james_s
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 27, 2018, 08:51:12 pm
content: I've been using AdBlock for at least a decade, so long that I almost forget what ads are like. On the rare occasion I try using the internet on a computer without AdBlock I quickly give up, I don't see how anyone can tolerate it. With the current state of things, the internet is unusable as delivered.

author: Gyro
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 27, 2018, 09:02:14 pm
content: Quote from: Karel on January 27, 2018, 01:22:24 pmAnother one added to my arsenalMy Firefox is now equipped with NoScript, Ghostery, Adblocker Ultimate, uBlock Origin, and Privacy Badger. I'm not sure how much duplication I have in there, but it still runs fast and I never see an Ad.

author: Cliff Matthews
author_rank: Unknown
timestamp: January 28, 2018, 03:54:09 am
content: Another one I use is a hosts file, this site has been faithful with updates almost every week for over a decade:http://winhelp2002.mvps.org/hosts.htmIf you have any Linux machines, you augment the above with an IP-tables drop-list:https://www.spamhaus.org/drop/drop.txtYou can throw this text into a spreadsheet and prefix/append the iptables commnds or better run this sh script as a cron job:https://github.com/cowgill/spamhaus

author: Mr. Scram
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 28, 2018, 04:03:28 am
content: Quote from: hammy on January 27, 2018, 11:48:23 amThis isn't a new problem by a long shot. Even when people dealt directly with the company buying the ads there were issues. More recently, but still many, many years ago, ads started being traded automatically and no one has a clue what ads they are running on their own site any more. It's far from rare to have major trusted sites running malware thanks to automatically traded ads. Not doing it that way is apparently nearly impossible, though I think Dave might be a rare exception.

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 28, 2018, 04:14:39 am
content: Quote from: janoc on January 27, 2018, 01:03:16 pmThe mining by clients to provide revenue would be good if (big if) it is opt in with the clients being fully aware of it and actually gives most of the revenue to where the clients think it's going to. To date, I have used cryptocurrency mining to directly benefit three individuals (and many more indirectly), where I set up and run my own mining setup, exchange the coins, and control where it all goes. What would be nice is if Patreon or a similar service gave the option to support a creator you like by simply running a mining app, without the user having to know anything about mining.

author: Mr. Scram
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 28, 2018, 04:16:56 am
content: Quote from: NiHaoMike on January 28, 2018, 04:14:39 amApparently it's really inefficient and costs the client more in power than it yields in cryptocurrency. It's cheaper to simply pay the money.

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 28, 2018, 04:29:11 am
content: Quote from: Mr. Scram on January 28, 2018, 04:16:56 amNot always. In fact, I have several mining setups that are so efficient power cost is basically a non issue. It can also be good to suggest running the miners only during the winter during which the generated heat is likely to be useful.

author: Mr. Scram
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 28, 2018, 04:50:21 am
content: Quote from: NiHaoMike on January 28, 2018, 04:29:11 amI'm not saying that mining can't be profitable, I'm saying mining on generic hardware turns out to be more expensive than just paying the amount you earn with it. This in no small part due to the use of CPUs, rather than GPUs or dedicated ASICS. Of course, you could optimize that by having people install specific software, but that negates the benefits of having people just visiting a website. People won't accept something that's that parasitic.I've seen you talking about your set-up many times now. It might be interesting to open a thread to tell us more about it.

author: retiredcaps
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 28, 2018, 04:52:30 am
content: Quote from: Gyro on January 27, 2018, 09:02:14 pmI only run ublock origin and ghostery. My machine is a Core 2 Duo so I don't know how many add ons I can use before performance degrades.I run lede on my router with simple-adblock enabled. This removes some ads for my Android devices.https://lede-project.org/https://github.com/stangri/openwrt-packages/blob/simple-adblock/net/simple-adblock/files/README.md

author: Mr. Scram
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 28, 2018, 05:05:24 am
content: Quote from: retiredcaps on January 28, 2018, 04:52:30 amYou actually gained more performance than you lost, so you have some ways to go before adding them becomes a problem.

author: NiHaoMike
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 28, 2018, 05:21:58 am
content: Quote from: Mr. Scram on January 28, 2018, 04:50:21 amMy mining setup is actually well past its peak, with quite a few of the remaining miners starting to break down. The catch with energy efficient mining is that if energy is not a significant part of the cost, the cost of the mining hardware is.And what about mining that does other useful work like Curecoin or Foldingcoin? (Imagine if you could support your favorite creators and help find cures for cancer at the same time!) Or going beyond mining, taking advantage of the low cost of storage and wireless hardware, what about create a wireless P2P network for content delivery? Deploy such a setup in a dense city where fast, unlimited Internet access is expensive or nonexistent and that idea would have a much better chance of succeeding. Give users (connecting via wireless) the option to download for free or pay the creators to get priority access.

author: Mr. Scram
author_rank: Super Contributor
timestamp: January 28, 2018, 05:34:16 am
content: Quote from: NiHaoMike on January 28, 2018, 05:21:58 amJust wait for the first reports of illegal content being spread through hardware of innocent people and see how fast the support vaporizes. Pick one of the usual subjects that always sway public opinion and see things turn against the plan. Cryptocurrency are already painted as tools of criminals, terrorists and whatnot. Think of the children!Running arbitrary code client side isn't really a good thing either, as has been confirmed once more by the Spectre and Meltdown vulnerabilities. It's inherently a bad idea and will inevitably be abused. The worst part is that ads could simply be safe, yet the industry chose to make ads overbearing, privacy invading and potentially running malicious code, while barely having a grasp on what gets served where. It's a classic case of reaping what you sow.