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

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 [...]


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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 30, @12:29AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Friday December 30, @12:29AM (#1284372)

    I sorta get your point, but since there's too much unfunny truth in the post, I find it more insightful.

    I'd argue your post is a bit off-topic, and certainly not beneficial, but you're entitled to express your opinion. Although a bit caustic and abrasive, not worthy of a downmod. Plus I'm not a big fan of downmodding; it's kind of a zero-sum game.

    Is "CONGRESS" singular or plural? Brits, the colonists need some help over here! :)