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https://techcrunch.com/2022/12/22/fbi-ad-blocker/
This holiday season, consider giving the gift of security with an ad blocker.
That's the takeaway message from an unlikely source — the FBI — which this week issued an alert warning that cybercriminals are using online ads in search results with the ultimate goal of stealing or extorting money from victims.
In a pre-holiday public service announcement, the FBI said that cybercriminals are buying ads to impersonate legitimate brands, like cryptocurrency exchanges. Ads are often placed at the top of search results but with "minimum distinction" between the ads and the search results, the feds say, which can look identical to the brands that the cybercriminals are impersonating. Malicious ads are also used to trick victims into installing malware disguised as genuine apps, which can steal passwords and deploy file-encrypting ransomware.
One of the FBI's recommendations for consumers is to install an ad blocker [...]
[...] If you're looking for a widely recommended ad blocker, uBlock Origin is a simple, low-memory ad blocker that works for most browsers, like Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Edge and Opera, plus the extension is open source so anyone can look at the code and make sure it's safe to run.
You can also get content blockers for Android and iOS, which block ads from loading on your device [...]
(Score: 3, Informative) by jasassin on Thursday December 29, @03:13AM (3 children)
A pi-hole is cool. I have a Cudy X6 router running OpenWRT firmware (excellent!). I have installed the adblock service on it (basically like a pi-hole) and it works for all devices on the LAN. This means (and I find this quite hilarious and awesome) blocking ads on Roku channels (not all the channels, YouTube serves it's own ads and so do some others... Pluto etc.). I like watching Retro Crush (anime) channel and watching it go thwoops, spinning ball for 2 seconds, and back to the show. I just have to say "Tee Hee" out loud sometimes. It makes me sick to think of how much time I wasted before I got that set up.
Now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever bought something because of an advertisement I saw. Huh.
Is it just me, or are the ads for medication (tell your doctor about perexelcanshitovile) stupid? Like I'm gonna tell my doctor what I should be taking. WTF? Same with ads for F150's etc. Yeah, let me just sell my left nut here so I can get your F150 you dildo. What next? Ads for helicopters or hot air ballons? I probably shouldn't give them any ideas...
jasassin@gmail.com GPG Key ID: 0x663EB663D1E7F223
(Score: 2) by mcgrew on Thursday December 29, @09:00PM (2 children)
Now that I think about it, I don't think I've ever bought something because of an advertisement I saw.
Maybe that's because you're not a drooling idiot.
Carbon, The only element in the known universe to ever gain sentience
(Score: 2) by Freeman on Friday December 30, @01:51AM (1 child)
I mean, not all advertisements are horrible. Just 99.99999999999999% of them. I may be off by a little, though.
Joshua 1:9 "Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed: for the Lord thy God is with thee"
(Score: 5, Interesting) by mcgrew on Friday December 30, @08:17PM
I've figured out that they're written to sell only to the learning-impaired. No specs on the car they're selling, just show people doing things that would void the warranty and possibly get you arrested...
Carbon, The only element in the known universe to ever gain sentience