Malware on Washington Post

Post #428,659 by rcareaga 4/29/19 12:34:34 PM 4/29/19 12:34:34 PM Reply	Malware on Washington Post Apparently there has been a recent uptick in ad-based malware aimed at the Mac OS, and to my irritation the WaPo appeared to be infected with it. Clicking on any story in the “Most Read” sidebar will bring up the target story and then, in short order, a helpful new tab inviting me to get right with Jesus, or at least with Flash, and “download an update from Adobe.” I provide a link to a screen capture rather than embedding the image, so as not to screw up the IWT window for anyone reading on a compact device. Had I credulously clicked the link, my browser would have been carried off to something called “setflaredealappclicks.top,” where doubtless some mischief would have been taken aboard. That domain name, incidentally, was created yesterday I emailed the Post about this last week, and actually received a service ticket number with a request to send a screen shot, which I have done this morning, adding somewhat starchily that in permitting this to go one for at least several days they are doing their subscribers no favors, and that I assumed my $99/PA was paying not merely for their reportage, but also for competent IT people to keep their product safe. cordially,
Post #428,669 by Ashton 4/29/19 5:34:28 PM 4/29/19 5:34:28 PM Reply	Tell me about that uptick.. Seattle Times cough and I hadn't clicky-clicked on anything {sigh} First they came for Windoze but I wasn't a Softie.. Glad you included the well-deserved Irascibility-on-tap. (S.T. wouldn't even let me heads-up their IT, the fuels. I won't go there even to see if there's fallout. Yet.) But fuckin WaPo ... Is it Doomsday count-down yet? I'm still waiting to hear of people disrobing at Bus-stops, though the odds of the Sun going Nova still seem pretty thin (Science makes mistreaks sometimes, though; re M-stars..? just sayin).
Post #428,692 by rcareaga 4/30/19 4:23:57 PM 4/30/19 4:23:57 PM Reply	Pro tip Never, never respond to an online invitation to update Flash, which is itself a sewer of contagion. cordially,
Post #428,699 by Ashton 4/30/19 8:47:15 PM 4/30/19 8:47:15 PM Reply	(Was hip re no-click before); recently uninstalled the sucker. Now Reminder-free-at-last. but.. they left me with reason to find the misplaced packet of curare-tipped darts ... leaving Safari (necessarily running to hit their site) sufficiently inaccessible that, trying to kill its throbbing corpus--crashed the sucker instantly. Not an easy recovery.. as with 'Doze of old: the Third reboot was the charm (by the second, was blaming-self for misplacing the bloody darts.) El Capitan did/does seem a bit sprier for its absence/Bonus. And Activity Monitor kinda confirms ..doing less work now. Nice.
Post #428,686 by static 4/30/19 1:26:21 PM 4/30/19 1:26:21 PM Reply	It's probably a rogue ad network. You know they don't host their own ads, for the most part? There is a network of ad servers that do automated "bidding" whenever a web page goes to serve an ad. They pick a bidder based on what they know about the page, what they know about you (cookies!) and what is being offered by their bidders. Often those bidding are networks themselves who repeat the same process. That's why loading an ad URL will go through several redirects until someone decides to actually serve content. There are ad networks intent on serving malware and they bid to networks only a little less shady themselves hoping to hide in the mess of networks until they get to a big, high-profile page, such as the WaPo. Then they get a report of malware and have to unravel everything to find the rogue network and evict them and, sometimes, also their buyer. This is a huge simplification, note. Wade.
Post #428,688 by Ashton 4/30/19 2:37:45 PM 4/30/19 2:37:45 PM Reply	Thanks for that bitchin er, unravelling! From that even moi can grok to fullness {well: -->further} ..the degree to which The-God-Mammon, via Capitalismo-infection..everywhen: has morphed Homo-Sap into such a miserable, festering Soul-less f'ing-Species (to End All local species? in all probability). Is it any Wonder? that, over jillions of (our) centuries within an infinite [but unbounded!] Cosmos: no other sentient species has wanted to shake-hands-with such a Bunch? Wager: that each of these unknown-auditioners live under a Master-prohibition /penalty of death: for even saying, H-E-L-L-O. aka: We shape-up or.. ship-out. ;^>
Post #428,689 by rcareaga 4/30/19 3:04:16 PM 4/30/19 3:04:16 PM Reply	Re: It's probably a rogue ad network. I add my thanks. cordially,
Post #428,826 by rcareaga 5/7/19 10:36:43 AM 5/7/19 10:36:43 AM Reply	Follow-up Malware, present for a week, appears to have been expelled for the nonce. cordially,
Post #428,892 by a6l6e6x 5/9/19 2:54:57 PM 5/9/19 2:54:57 PM Reply	All right! Alex "There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there has always been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge." -- Isaac Asimov
Post #428,915 by rcareaga 5/10/19 12:44:55 PM 5/10/19 12:44:55 PM Reply	I spoke too soon They’re b-a-a-a-ck! Sheesh. in some exasperation,

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