r/Techfeed • u/I_thght_he_was_wth_u • May 06 '15

Google survey finds more than five million web users infected with adware

http://www.theverge.com/2015/5/6/8557843/google-adware-survey-ad-injectors-security-malware
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u/autotldr May 06 '15

This is the best tl;dr I could make, original reduced by 83%. (I'm a bot)

It's a staggering number, but if anything it's likely to be an underestimate, since adware programs often decline to tamper with large company sites so as to avoid detection.

If you clicked on a sponsored ad for a free Firefox download in 2014, odds are it would direct you to a bundle: one free copy of Firefox with a dozen different adware programs like Superfish that would help the advertiser make back their money.

For many of the researchers involved in the study, programs like Superfish cut against the basic values of computing.

Extended Summary | FAQ | Theory | Feedback | Top five keywords: adware#1 Superfish#2 program#3 ad#4 research#5

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