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The Forbes 30 Under 30 list came out this week and it featured a prominent security researcher. Other researchers were pleased to see one of their own getting positive attention, and visited the site in droves to view the list.
On arrival, like a growing number of websites, Forbes asked readers to turn off ad blockers in order to view the article. After doing so, visitors were immediately served with pop-under malware, primed to infect their computers, and likely silently steal passwords, personal data and banking information. Or, as is popular worldwide with these malware "exploit kits," lock up their hard drives in exchange for Bitcoin ransom. The exploit used was a version of hackenfreude.
Forbes has recently taken some flack from Soylent News readers for its heavy-handed approach to ad blockers.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by SomeGuy on Sunday January 10 2016, @03:29PM
As a response to this, I recommend that all tech savvy people make sure that ad blockers are installed on as many computers used by average users as possible.
And, if possible, remove any easily accessible way to disable the ad blockers.
If enough people used proper ad blockers and did not or could not disable them, this might remove some incentive for companies to use excessive or malicious advertising.
These days it is mind boggling that anyone would not use an ad blocker.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 10 2016, @03:33PM
Ive offered and been refused before. Some people like seeing all the ads, or so they say.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by SomeGuy on Sunday January 10 2016, @03:49PM
>Ive offered and been refused before. Some people like seeing all the ads, or so they say.
Usually users just don't want people changing things around on their computer. They get enough of that from Microsoft etc. these days.
They would probably refuse an antivirus update or a service pack, given the choice. And given how abusive software vendors are with updates now, it is understandable.
So slip it in as a browser update or something so they can blame someone else :)
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday January 10 2016, @10:16PM
So... fight malware techniques with malware techniques? Perhaps down that path lies madness (and lies).
(Score: 2) by fido_dogstoyevsky on Monday January 11 2016, @04:43AM
...So slip it in as a browser update or something so they can blame someone else
"Beware of the dark side. Anger, fear, aggression; the dark side of the Force are they. Easily they flow, quick to join you in a fight. If once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny, consume you it will." A purveyor of Malware you will become!!
It's NOT a conspiracy... it's a plot.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Runaway1956 on Sunday January 10 2016, @04:29PM
Install the adblocker on the router. Problem solved. Few "average users" even know how to log into their router, and far fewer than that have any idea how to configure them.
(Score: 3, Interesting) by Hairyfeet on Sunday January 10 2016, @10:33PM
Interesting? Really mods? He might as well have said "Install Ubuntu on the router" as both are equally as plausible. News Flash, the majority of home routers? 1.- You cannot "install" anything, as most do not support DD-WRT or Tomato, 2.- Have no simple way to import IP address lists, in fact 3.- Many do not allow blocking by IP address at all, only by website name under a label such as "family filter".
Its obvious you do not have experience with home routers or you would know the majority simply do not have the cycles nor the tools to do what you suggested. Hell go to Newegg and see how many are still being sold that are IP V4 only in 2015, their ARM chips are simply too weak and the memory too limited to run IP V6, much less run huge block lists.
ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Sunday January 10 2016, @11:44PM
Netgear and Linksys are fairly common home routers. If your customer doesn't own one, recommend one. You set it up. Or, you just sell him one, already flashed and set up for use. It isn't like you have to sell them a thousand dollar enterprise router to accomplish this little thing.
(Score: 2) by Hairyfeet on Monday January 11 2016, @12:02AM
Uhhh most Netgear and Linksys don't support installing WW-DRT or Tomato either, wanna try again? BTW the majority of routers out there in actual homes? Trendnet/Zonenet, and most folks aren't gonna go drop $70+ on a new router when a simple .BAT and GWX control panel can fix the issue for $0.
ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday January 11 2016, @01:47AM
You're kinda missing the point. I know that you're as hardheaded as I am, so I'm probably wasting time, but let's try one more time.
Linksys and Netgear do support third party firmwares. It's kinda up to you to know which ones support the particular firmware you wish to use. And, it's up to you to recommend those routers to your customers. Are they going to spend upwards of $200 on the best of those routers? You say no, but I've witnessed plenty of people dragging their machines off to a shop, to spend $150 to $500 to "fix" those machines, when all that was required was a simple fix.
You can honestly recommend a $200 router, properly configured, to block ads and malware, and anything else you deem proper to block. The router can also be configured to run a VPN, of course. You can optionally block the Win10 BS. You can recommend this in good conscience, knowing that every machine on the customer's network will be protected - not only the machine that you are servicing. If the customer declines the upgraded router, fine. If he accepts, you pocket a couple dollars profit for supplying it, and configuring it.
Options are options - offering these options and services can reduce your load of headaches, and at the same time, increase your profit marginally. It will always be the customer's decision, of course, but offering him the option can't possibly hurt you, can it?
(Score: 2) by Hairyfeet on Monday January 11 2016, @05:43PM
And again you are missing MY point, let me highlight why would they spend $100+ on a new router when there is a fix that cost $0 and takes all of 4 seconds to implement? And if you are talking about doing all this to take the spyware that is Windows 10 then your post just shows its a worthless OS with the actual "cost" of owning the OS more than every previous version for an OS that honestly performs worse in just about every metric.
ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Monday January 11 2016, @07:15PM
I'm certainly not arguing about the "value" of Win10 - My only argument is that implementing spyware, adware, and malware blocking on the router has it's own value. If a customer should happen to need a new modem/router, it is well worth the investment to recomment one that can perform these functions. Even if the customer doesn't really "need" a new router, but he simply wishes to upgrade, you can recommend this. It's an idea with value, no matter what OS that customer happens to be running. It benefits me, primarily because my crappy 2 Mb connection won't support the garbage adware downloading to as many as six computers at a time. I don't own all of those computers, much less the telephones and tablets that family members use while at my house. Therefore, I can't install ad blocking or alter HOSTS files on all of them. But, I do own the router, and I block all that crap before the requests ever go out from all those devices. Meaning - even when two or three people are using my connection, I still have more bandwidth that I would have all alone, without adblocking and the rest.
Yes, Win10 sucks worse than any OS that has ever preceded it, but Win10 isn't the only reason to control the connections going through your router. It's just one of the best reasons to block the crap.
(Score: 2) by Grishnakh on Monday January 11 2016, @05:19PM
Actually, FWIW, I have a pretty nice TrendNet router that runs DD-WRT just fine.
That said, I think the idea of doing blocking at the router level is pretty stupid. Modern ad-blocking requires no only blocking domains but also looking at the HTML code, and that's something that's much easier done inside the browser with Ublock Origin. Also, installing and updating Ublock Origin is simple and easy and keeping it updated is automatic; keeping software on the router up-to-date isn't. Finally, the last thing I need is my router wasting tiny-ARM CPU cycles on blocking when it needs to be as high-performance as possible for my VoIP/telephony needs.
(Score: 3, Informative) by Hairyfeet on Tuesday January 12 2016, @06:27AM
I agree 100% and would only add why would I slam the weak ass little ARM chips in the average home router when even my users on 10 year old systems have more cycles than they can ever use thanks to how insane the IPC on a multicore X86 chip is?
Hell I replaced the Q6600 I was using at the shop for my late father's Phenom I 9600 quad for sentimental reasons, figuring it would probably be struggling, what did I find? Even with multiple downloads and a pile of websites running AND background music blasting I still rarely went above 50% CPU and never once had the auto OC kick in, so why would I want to slam the ARM chip so hard its about to melt to do router blocking when you have programs like uBlock and ABP that will do it on the system where there is plenty of MHz left unused?
Its easy to update on the PC, won't hurt the system performance, not to mention as you pointed out you slam the router the whole network goes to shit, so it just doesn't make sense to go through all that to do it on the router.
ACs are never seen so don't bother. Always ready to show SJWs for the racists they are.
(Score: 2) by FakeBeldin on Monday January 11 2016, @04:50PM
Indeed.
I've recently begun telling people that ad blockers are the digital equivalent of condoms.
Sure, it might take a while before you catch something, but boy, do the sites you sleep with^W^Wvisit sleep around with advertisers!
Friends wouldn't let friends go in without a condom over their browser.