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posted by takyon on Wednesday August 05 2015, @02:30AM   Printer-friendly
from the again? dept.

On July 28, popular website Yahoo! became the one of the latest websites targeted by malicious ads that redirect to the Angler Exploit Kit, which attempts to take advantages of security holes in Adobe Flash. Yahoo! has an estimated 6.9 billion visitors per month.

From The New York Times:

The attack, which started on July 28, was the latest in a string that have exploited Internet advertising networks, which are designed to reach millions of people online. It also highlighted growing anxiety over a much-used graphics program called Adobe Flash, which has a history of security issues that have irked developers at Silicon Valley companies.

Malwarebytes and Business Insider provide more information about this specific incident.

Yahoo! became aware of the attack on August 3 and has released a statement indicating their team has "taken action" (shortened):

"Yahoo is committed to ensuring that both our advertisers and users have a safe and reliable experience. As soon as we learned of this issue, our team took action and will continue to investigate this issue.... We'll continue to ensure the quality and safety of our ads through our automated testing and through the SafeFrame working group...."


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  • (Score: 3, Insightful) by halcyon1234 on Wednesday August 05 2015, @01:55PM

    by halcyon1234 (1082) on Wednesday August 05 2015, @01:55PM (#218508)

    This is why I never have, and never will, whitelist any site in AdBlock. It isn't the site owner I don't trust. It's the third party ad networks.

    Time and time again, they let through malicious content. This ranges from the "allowed" malicious content (ads for diet pills, financial scams, snakeoil products, etc), all the way up to malware and exploits. Allowing these third party ad networks to have any sort of access to your computer is harmful, bordering on negligent.

    And of course nothing is really done about the constant barrage of this content. It's all hidden behind layer upon layer of obfuscation and "someone else's problem". Seriously, who are you going to complain to about malicious content? The site owner? They have no control over it. They just drop in the js code, and get ads delivered. The ad network? Nope, they're just a delivery aggregate. They pull in "relevant" content from a number of different ad networks. How about those networks? Well, it's not like anyone will actually tell you which sub-network delivered it, but again if you managed to track it down-- hey, they just play what the ad agencies upload. Okay, so track down the agency-- nope, they just subcontract out to a bunch of firms, they don't know which firm is responsible for which ads at that time. And of course each of those firms deals with multiple clients, who are just the marketing departments for a sub-contractor for the actual company. And those companies may just be shells for some guy selling pills form his basement. There is zero responsibility across the entire chain, except getting paid.

    And speaking of getting paid, of course someone will pipe up with 'ad blocking hurts creators'. I have no problem supporting creators. I might even whitelist one that runs first party ads they approve themselves. I certainly crowdfund enough. Which is why I ask those creators-- why are you defending our common enemy, the ad networks? They've fucking you over just as much as they're fucking over the eyeballs that view your site. Payout from ad networks has plummeted in recent years-- due to oversaturation, and frankly, because they can. You can have an immensely popular site, running immensely popular videos-- and still barely make coffee money. And you're completely beholden to the ad network. You have to follow their rules, their code of conduct, and effectively sell out your userbase to them for chump change. Why are you defending them, content creators? If you have that large of an audience, you don't need them. Start a Patreon or other crowd fund, and make a living wage.

    No one benefits from ads-- except for the ad networks, and those who abuse them.

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