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DonGould

3892 posts

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#88576 18-Aug-2011 12:26
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Carrying on from here

Ok so I've installed adblocker on every machine in the building now so that we can't get hit by ad virus.  I've also installed some remote control software on every family computer so we can install ad blocker on them and do virus scans etc...

I've uninstalled Java...  --> No more OpenOffice for us thanks...  no more freemind, in fact we just lost a bunch of cool open source, free (as in beer) applications...

Just looking about for the best price for MS Office 2010 that I can use in my small home based business and looking at renewing my subscription to the Press and setting up a Geekzone sub....

HOLD ON!....  I need to get my Tin Foil hat on...

This latest attack, what is the outcome -

* I'll be taking money from ad companies...  --> effectively stealing public content, as the condition of the MetService data is that it's subject to supply with ads?

* I'm dumping a whole suit of software from a provider group (bye bye Java)...

* I'm to be spending cash with a single provider for my software...

So what I'm pondering, while my head gets warm from the wifi rays that my tin foil hat is gathering, is if this virus has more than already done it's intended job?

Was it really after my credit card details?

Was it really after my internet banking password?

Was it on some anti-social corporate mission to drive me back to a news paper, make publicly funded web sites deliver the world information for free and stomp out free (as in beer) software?

...or have I just been sitting under this hat to long?

Smile







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CADMAX
274 posts

Ultimate Geek


  #508665 18-Aug-2011 17:03
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DonGould: Carrying on from here


...or have I just been sitting under this hat to long?

Smile





ok +1 i think you may have.

i have seem a big number of computers that got hit with it.

my view is that one can hide but its just better to get on with it, as for the bank and card change the login details often.......



freitasm
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  #508667 18-Aug-2011 17:08
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DonGould: Carrying on from here

Ok so I've installed adblocker on every machine in the building now so that we can't get hit by ad virus.  I've also installed some remote control software on every family computer so we can install ad blocker on them and do virus scans etc...


You realise your "I've installed adblocker on every machine in the building" was/is an unnecessary effort, and is effectively taking money out of publishers... for nothing? 

Do you realise the attack was not via online ads, but a simple SQL injection into their database powering their ad serving solution?

What happened is that they were running OpenX, malware folks know of a few exploits and use SQL injections to get their code in.

If it wasn't the OpenX database could have been their own database. 

Folks, IT WAS NOT AD RELATED!
 




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ChrisNZL
309 posts

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  #508677 18-Aug-2011 17:54
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freitasm: Folks, IT WAS NOT AD RELATED!?

Ad server related then?

Not a case of a dodgy advertiser being evil, but rather a "hacker" that injected MetService's OpenX ad server with the malware Java code, which was then loaded into the user's browser when an ad was served to them?

Still, if the ad was blocked initially by the user, or if JavaScript was disabled (though disabling JavaScript on MetService takes away the site's usability), or if the Java plugin was disabled in the user's browser, this would not have happened.




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freitasm
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  #508699 18-Aug-2011 18:56
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Yet it is still not an ad problem but a SQL Injection that could target any other database.




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