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Even the FBI Says You Should Use an Ad Blocker

posted by mrpg on Wednesday December 28, @08:53AM   Printer-friendly
from the using-proper-protection dept.

Ometecuhtli writes:

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 [...]

Original Submission

 
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  • (Score: 2) by mcgrew on Thursday December 29, @09:00PM (2 children)

    by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Thursday December 29, @09:00PM (#1284354) Homepage Journal

    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
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  • (Score: 2) by Freeman on Friday December 30, @01:51AM (1 child)

    by Freeman (732) Subscriber Badge on Friday December 30, @01:51AM (#1284380) Journal

    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

      by mcgrew (701) <publish@mcgrewbooks.com> on Friday December 30, @08:17PM (#1284453) Homepage Journal

      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