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  • Google Ads Trojan

    by
    Farcaster
    Published on 04-27-2010 12:58 AM
    4 Comments Comments
    It appears that there may be a trojan slipping through the net being served over Google Ads. Although this site isn't being specifically targeted, some of the infected ads appear to have been displayed here on P&PG. If you have an antivirus program installed, chances are you are protected. If not, you should update your virus software and do a full scan. It seems that the virus that is being sent through these ads is called "mebroot," and any site that is currently serving Google Ads may display an infected ad. As a result, I have temporarily removed Google advertising from this site entirely.

    For all other sites, browse safely my friends, and have your virus program installed and up to date.
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    Comments 4 Comments
    1. Death Rattle's Avatar
      Death Rattle - 04-27-2010, 04:22 PM
      What does google have to say about this?
    1. Farcaster's Avatar
      Farcaster - 04-27-2010, 04:26 PM
      I haven't seen anything posted by Google yet about it. There is some speculation out there that this is coming from third party networks. In the meantime, I am working with our advertising manager to remove Adsense ads from our rotation. From what I have been able to find out, if you have virus detection software installed, you are probably safe, but still, I'd fill better if we didn't have anything like that passing through this site.
    1. cplmac's Avatar
      cplmac - 04-27-2010, 08:05 PM
      I haven't noticed anything here, but then I have yet to see anything that can make it through the Norton Internet Security that I have been using. Unfortunately, there will always be folks that make these viruses. That is why you should always keep whatever virus software you are running updated. Although, I must say that I am surprised that a company as large as Google is would be able to have this happen, unless there is possibly someone there that is in on it.
    1. Farcaster's Avatar
      Farcaster - 04-27-2010, 08:33 PM
      I don't think that is the case any more than someone slipping a virus through Microsoft's Windows makes Microsoft a co-conspirator. This is unfortunately the nature of things. The more robust and adaptable you try to make something, the more vulnerabilities you have.

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