So its Advertlets Ads…

So I was right after all..
I suspected something was wrong with the computer at home when I kept getting redirected to a malware scanning website. I thought it was infected with some trojan which is highly unlikely since I am very cautious on the links I clicked on.

I thought I would do an intensive scanning of the computer later just to be sure that its not a problem.

Then this morning when I came to work, I was reading some blogs when it happened again. The malware was quite sneakly. It changed the size of my browser to a very small size and hide it at the corner. Then it pop open another window saying my computer is infected and needs scanning. I looked at it and it does look like the normal Windows alert. And it was right on top of the mini browser of the site I was browsing.

Thats when I knew something was not right. My office computer doesn’t surf any potentially dangerous sites so it can’t be infected. I did a search and turns out these kind of malware piggy back on Flash content and redirect the browser to the malware’s location when the user is surfing on the site.

I wanted to wait till I get home to narrow down which flash was that. But someone beats me to it.

Turns out the adware came from a Flash ad from Advertlets. Josh from Advertlets mentioned in the comment that the source was from an infected computer that had compiled the Flash ads. Luckily it had been recompiled and hopefully there shouldn’t any problem.

I think its quite a serious problem to overlook. Since the ads is served to quite a bit of people, I wonder who many people are already infected when they click on “OK” instead of just closing the window. Advertisers have a responsibilities now to check the compiled Flash ads are virus free.

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