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Yahoo visitors hit by malware

by on06 January 2014



What did the Fox say?

Yahoo's advertising servers have been distributing malware to hundreds of thousands of users over the last few days. It appears that hackers hijacked Yahoo's advertising network and used it to distribute bogus adverts.

A Dutch security firm which has the unfortunately name of Fox IT said that its clients visiting yahoo.com received advertisements served by ads.yahoo.com. Some of the advertisements are malicious," the Fox said. “Instead of serving ordinary ads, the Yahoo's servers reportedly sends users an "exploit kit" that "exploits vulnerabilities in Java and installs a host of different malware."

Fox did not say on its blog “Jacha-chacha-chacha-chow!” which was what many hacks were hoping for. Fox IT says Yahoo users have been being infected since at least December 30. At the time it discovered the issue on Friday, the firm says, malicious payloads were being delivered to around 300,000 users per hour. The company guesses that around 9 percent of those, or 27,000 users per hour, were being infected. More recently, the firm says, the volume of infections has tapered off, perhaps due to efforts by Yahoo's security team.

"It is unclear which specific group is behind this attack, but the attackers are clearly financially motivated," the Fox said.

AV is your guardian angel hiding in the H drive.
What is your sound? (A-bubu-duh-bubu-dwee-dum a-bubu-duh-bubu-dwee-dum)
Will we ever know? (A-bubu-duh-bubu-dwee-dum)
I want to, I want to, I want to know! (A-bubu-duh-bubu-dwee-dum)
(Bay-buh-day bum-bum bay-dum)

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