Malware attack hits thousands of Yahoo users

[mouser]

Ouch.  Be careful out there!

A malware attack hit Yahoo's advertising server over the last few days, affecting thousands of users in various countries, an Internet security firm said.

In a blog post, Fox-IT said Yahoo's servers were releasing an "exploit kit" that exploited vulnerabilities in Java and installed malware.

"Clients visiting yahoo.com received advertisements served by ads.yahoo.com," the internet security firm said. "Some of the advertisements are malicious."

http://www.cnn.com/2014/01/05/tech/yahoo-malware-attack/index.html?hpt=hp_t2

The slashdot thread on this episode is here: http://tech.slashdot.org/story/14/01/05/1444217/yahoo-advertising-serves-up-malware-for-thousands


from slashdot

[bit]

Thankfully I do not normally use yahoo except as an alternative backup, and have not visited it since a little before this was reported.
And I shouldn't need it before they fix this.
Tnx for the update.

[TaoPhoenix]

Well, for a little meta humor, let's try this search link:

http://search.yahoo.com/search?p=Yahoo+users+get+hit+by+malware&ei=UTF-8&fr=moz35

I do raw yahoo searches out of the Firefox search window, so I'm not sure if that might have avoided the malware even at the theoretical level. But whatever little was left, I am presuming adblock goes  a long way to mitigate.

[tomos]

Well, for a little meta humor, let's try this search link:

[link removed]

I do raw yahoo searches out of the Firefox search window, so I'm not sure if that might have avoided the malware even at the theoretical level. But whatever little was left, I am presuming adblock goes  a long way to mitigate.

I dont understand - why get us to search with yahoo now ???!!! (I didnt click the link )

[TaoPhoenix]

I dont understand - why get us to search with yahoo now ???!!! (I didnt click the link )

Hence the meta humor. Making Yahoo report its own security breach! 

But it was an open question to anyone who studied the breach if the ads were only served on the master page of yahoo.com, I wouldn't have seen them with a browser search.

[tomos]

does that mean it's safe for *us* to click on your link - or not ? (Surely we want to avoid Yahoo like the plague right now??)


obviously still (-with apologies-) missing the meta humour.

[wraith808]

^ well, *they* say it's fine.  But I wouldn't click it.  And agree with you on the humour.

[tomos]

^ in fairness, I get the irony of Yahoo reporting its own security breach


but otherwise floundering :-)

[wraith808]

Well, not really reporting, as that's a search query string.  And yes to the flounder

[4wd]

And yes to the flounder

[Innuendo]

This thread is one of the reasons I think long and hard before ever disabling that little cow that sits down in my system tray.

[TaoPhoenix]

This thread is one of the reasons I think long and hard before ever disabling that little cow that sits down in my system tray.

Which cow!?

[mwb1100]

Does anyone know of a adblocker that *didn't* prevent the yahoo homepage attack?

[x16wda]

Which cow!?

Maybe this one...

[wraith808]

I was wondering... since there's no cow in that thread, just dinosaurs.  But then I go back to the official site and see one: http://www.admuncher.com/

[x16wda]

since there's no cow in that thread, just dinosaurs

The Ad Muncher guy's icon appears to be a cow... although I'd vote for the brachiosaurus too...

[Innuendo]

x16wda was correct. The cow I was referring to was the AdMuncher icon that sits in the system tray. It eliminates the attack vector of banner ads quite handily.

But now after seeing that thread, I want a dinosaur. 

[TaoPhoenix]

But now after seeing that thread, I want a dinosaur. 

(Glowering B movie bad guy) Mortal, you dare to question corporate branding?!