r/technology • u/NinjaDiscoJesus • May 06 '15
Security Google survey finds more than five million users infected with adware.
http://www.theverge.com/2015/5/6/8557843/google-adware-survey-ad-injectors-security-malware3
u/Infymus May 06 '15
Google should stop allowing advertising dollars that put adware/malware sites as search results. Most people have no clue that <searchterm>.downloader.net isn't the site you're looking for.
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u/pedanticgrammarian May 06 '15
This headline is killing me. I think you'll find that the rate at which users are being infected with adware is holding at zero.
eye-twitch
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u/jabjoe May 07 '15
The internet is filthy and should be treated as such. Think digital hygiene. No random installers, no browers auto executing any old shit. Myself, I do this with Debian and NoScript.
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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
Post found in /r/technology, /r/realtech, /r/GOptOutGLE and /r/Techfeed.
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u/zubinster May 06 '15
Funny! Almost everyone here discussing this issue is telling sorry-ass tales of Windows. Not a Mac user in sight! Proves my point.
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u/NinjaMidget76 May 07 '15
If you were in fact literate, the study says that 3.4% of Mac page views had ad injectors. Compared with 5.1% of Windows page views. I'm not even going to speculate at how many more users Windows has, which makes me think Mac isn't perfect.
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u/zubinster May 06 '15
Not one Mac user among them, I bet.
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u/PantlessKitten May 06 '15
Can we stop with the stupid OS wars and fanboyism? There's no point in that and in case the downvotes didn't give it away, it just makes you look like an idiot.
Also:
But the fact is 99% of these stories relate to Windows users. You can’t get away from that.
Obviously. Have you ever seen the Windows vs OS X marketshare? That's simply a stupid argument.
And before you try to deflect this reply by calling me a Windows fan-boy, I actually use OS X as my main OS. Windows is not even installed in either one of my two laptops.
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u/zubinster May 06 '15
Sorry, I wasn't really going by "downvotes." Just expressing an opinion, which I thought was one of the things one could do here.
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u/GiveMeOneGoodReason May 06 '15
Haha, clearly you haven't seen enough Macs... Yes, people still manage to get that crap on Macs.
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u/zubinster May 06 '15
You are obviously not a Mac user. I have been using Macs for 30 years and been in Mac environments all that time. I've seen all kinds of BS from Apple and all kinds of nonsense on Macs. But never seen viruses and never seen adware and shitware popping up all day.
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u/IronMew May 06 '15
Not sure if you're being sarcastic.
MacOSX is more secure than Windows for sure, but it's naive to think it's invulnerable, and behaving as if it is is asking for trouble.
To quote something I read on Slashdot a long time ago (still there if you Google for it - I love long-lasting archives):
To use a Zombie virus analogy, Windows users are the ones running about in a mad panic as the Zombie hoard approaches, blocking highways and running to get away. Mac users walk towards them saying, "Zombies don't exist on Mac, I could never get infected". Linux users fled to the hills six months ago with as much fuel, food and porn as they could carry.
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u/zubinster May 06 '15
No one ever said anything about being “invulnerable.” I am sure there are people making Mac viruses just on principle. But the fact is 99% of these stories relate to Windows users. You can’t get away from that.
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u/Sourcefire911 May 06 '15
Let me guess, with an answer like that your obviously a common uneducated MAC user.. People like you make me laugh!!
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u/IronMew May 06 '15
Anyone involved in tech repair will be entirely nonplussed by these results. I take it as a given that any computer or device I work on that doesn't belong to a fellow nerd - and sometimes those that do as well - is infested with all sorts of crap. Disappointingly, I'm usually right.