WARNING: Phishing ads on DU

[endthewar]

I'm not a paid member, so I still have some of the ads on DU. If you're a paid member, no need to worry. But for others, I just thought you should know that my virus blocker keeps blocking ads on DU. This is the first time I've seen this happen. Which ad is it? I don't know since my virus blocker is blocking it (and I'm not going to turn it off to find out either :rofl:), but the reason that it gave me was "phishing". Not sure exactly what it is, but I think its kind of like a program that tries to hijack your internet. Just thought I would warn people to keep their virus blockers on.

[cliffordu]

1. Linux will set you free....

[endthewar]

2. Yeah, I know

but I don't want to transition over. Now I have 3 ads being blocked on my screen. :rofl:

DU needs to look at who their advertisers are. You don't want to subject those not use to using the internets to computer trouble.

[cliffordu]

16. You are right - make sure your browser can block pop ups....

[dbonds]

3. Make sure you are at least running firefox 3

[endthewar]

4. Turns out I have 2.0

I'll update it now though. I have a separate virus program running in the background and it caught the ads (which are still up by the way, shame on the admins).

[dkofos]

5. Run firefox with javascript disabled, no more ads

[endthewar]

8. Sweet!

Got rid of the ads and there's nothing for my anti-virus program to block anymore.

[muriel_volestrangler]

6. With this little information, I doubt there'll be anything that can be done

It might be useful to know:

What the virus blocker software is
When it has happened (if you're unwilling to turn it off, then it might be possible to work it out form which pages it occurs on - though that may be very difficult)
Any further information (eg the virus blocker may actually record something like "a link to URL xxxxx.com has been listing as a possible phishing site)

You could send these directly to admin (there's a 'contact' link at the bottom of each DU page), if you don't want to post them in a thread.

'Phishing', by the way, is an attempt to get you to sign on to a fake website with your private details, eg by pretending to be a bank. It isn't "kind of like a program that tries to hijack your internet".

If you've already sent admin these details, sorry for asking for them again; but it happens that a moderator noticed this thread (no-one had alerted the moderators), and you say you the admins to do something about it, so they need to know. I have sent them a note informing them of this thread.

[endthewar]

7. "TREND MICRO PC-cillin Internet Security 14"

Is the message my virus blocker puts in place of the ad. I think the official name of my anti-virus program is "TREND MICRO PC-cillin Internet Security", so I'm not sure what the 14 means. It's on just about every DU page I visit. Today is the first day I noticed it. You probably only have a handful of ads, so you should just check those ads. Otherwise, just warn people not to click on the ads for the time being (although that kind of defeats the purpose of the ad, right?). Of course, it's possible that the ads are safe and maybe my anti-virus program is just giving me a false positive.

Alright, I'm washing my hands of this now. I've already learned more than I wanted to about my anti-virus program for the day. Just wanted to caution people about it.

Also, I saw another thread where some people claimed to have gotten 25-30 PMs on DU. Didn't happen to me, but you should probably figure out what's going on there as well.

[Snarkturian Clone]

9. PC-cillin is an F'd up program.

For some reason, it kept thinking my new video card was a virus. I use Symantec, it's pretty good.

[lpbk2713]

10. Just a possibility ...

... it might be that the software that set up your video card was
trying to go on the WWW to check for updates. Perfectly normal.

[endthewar]

11. Good point.

Plus, that's why they tell you to close everything down before installing it, so you won't get those kinds of conflicts.

I'm dizzy from watching Rush Limbaugh spin out of control. :rofl:

[Snarkturian Clone]

12. That could have been it but

the computer would crash after like 5 min of use. The dummies at tech support spent hours trying to figure out why I was crashing, then I removed PC-cillin and installed Symantec, and the crashes stopped.

[endthewar]

13. McCain, is that you?

You having trouble with one of the internets too? :rofl:

So a virus blocker caused your computer to crash every 5 minutes? Hmmm... :rofl:

(just playing with you :hug: )

[Snarkturian Clone]

14. Tech nerds suck. NT

[muriel_volestrangler]

15. Thanks - that will help

Knowing the program, and that it started today, will help. There's also another user getting it - see http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3827852 - so there's a screen shot to be used now (it lists the Google ads address - pagead2.googelsyndication.com ).

As far as the thread about PMs - goes - admin are aware of that - some outgoing email form this stite got held up.

[endthewar]

17. Yeah, looks like the same thing

I remember seeing "googlesyndication" on one of the warnings before I shut off my javascript. Thanks for taking care of it. :hi:

[global1]

18. I've Posted Well After You Did And Now Just Looking Back To See If.....

others experienced the same. I too have Trend Micro and am getting the "phishing" warnings. Here is the link to my post:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=389&topic_id=3827933&mesg_id=3827933

There is also another post that came after yours and before mine. It is at this link:

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=389x3827852

How do we stop this. This just started today for me and it is coming up on virtually every page I click on in DU.

[endthewar]

19. Turn off javascript

That will get rid of the ad. Also, a couple other ads might slip through, but turn off java to get rid of it.

Tools - Options - Content tab. Then uncheck the "Enable javascript" and "Enable java" boxes.

[global1]

21. Just Curious - If I Turn Off JavaScript To End These Ads.....

what else will that effect and will I be missing something because JavaScript is disabled?

[endthewar]

22. youtube

I actually turned it back on to watch a youtube video and then turned it back off. I think I'll just use Internet Explorer as my youtube viewing browser.

[TrogL]

20. It's probably Trend's fault - they got a bit overly paranoid

They shipped a new pattern file today with a lot of changes. Check on their site tonight and there will probably be an update fixing it.

[endthewar]

23. Haven't updated recently

so that's not it