An investigative report reveals that new spyware can slip in unseen through online ads—and there is currently no defense against it. So not only that online ads are intrusive and can infect devices through malware, they can also be used for spying.

    • dalë
      link
      fedilink
      English
      349 months ago

      Or offload them at the DNS so they dont even get to the device in the first instance.

      • @Geek_King@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        469 months ago

        I do so love my Pihole. I forget how many ads are all over websites until I load up some site on a machine outside of my network.

        • Pennomi
          cake
          link
          fedilink
          English
          239 months ago

          Probably worth having multiple layers of defense

          • @CumBroth@discuss.tchncs.de
            link
            fedilink
            English
            7
            edit-2
            9 months ago

            One thing I like about this particular layer of defense is that it gives you more insight into the activities of the software and operating systems you’re using. The statistics they provide (I use Adguard Home) have proven very useful to me on several occasions .

          • dalë
            link
            fedilink
            English
            69 months ago

            No solution is perfect but could a DNS based solution with a privacy browser is as good as I can get on mobile devices without not connecting to the internet at all.

  • teft
    link
    fedilink
    English
    86
    edit-2
    9 months ago

    and there is currently no defense against it.

    Don’t load ads. There, problem solved.

        • DigitalPaperTrail
          link
          fedilink
          109 months ago

          the first two is literally just download and forget about it, but I’ll give you needing some know-how on the others

          • @aceshigh@lemmy.world
            link
            fedilink
            English
            29 months ago

            it’s scary for people who don’t understand it. i would never ask my parents to get it because i know that any errors or whatever their computer will get will get blamed on the extension and get blamed on me.

            • @Dagrothus@reddthat.com
              link
              fedilink
              English
              69 months ago

              You wouldn’t ask your boomer parents to block ads that will likely get them to install viruses or get scammed? They are easily the demographic that would benefit the most from ublock.

              • @PM_Your_Nudes_Please@lemmy.world
                link
                fedilink
                English
                6
                edit-2
                9 months ago

                You’ve clearly never had to deal with the “you touched my computer 3 years ago and now it won’t turn on. Why did you break my computer” family members. One of the number one pieces of advice for people just starting in IT is to never work on family members’ computers. Because as soon as you agree to fix something, you’re now the person to blame when something stops working. Because “it worked fine the last time you touched it, and now it’s broken. Clearly I didn’t do anything to break it, so it must have been you” is a scarily common train of thought.

                • @Drbreen@sh.itjust.works
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  0
                  edit-2
                  9 months ago

                  This and don’t ever tell co-workers your into computers either. They will ask for say, laptop recommdations. So because you like them, you do a little research and send them some links. 6 months later they’ll come back asking for another recommendation because they didn’t buy anything when they last asked! This has happened to me more times than I care to think about. Totally annoys me.

          • BeboOP
            link
            English
            19 months ago

            Thing is most people are unaware of the harmful nature of ads and don’t care to do anything to block them.

      • @micka190@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        109 months ago

        And then 9% out of that remaining 10% just can’t be bothered to install them for some insane reason.

        • TimeSquirrel
          link
          fedilink
          79 months ago

          “I don’t mind the ads…”

          “WHY THE FUCK NOT, ARE YOU EVEN HUMAN?”

        • BeboOP
          link
          English
          39 months ago

          Exactly! Can’t understand how do so many people tolerate ads.

      • @MrFlamey@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        29 months ago

        I think I heard that usage on desktop is something like 1 in 4, which is pretty good. Mobile is another world altogether, since it requires different browsers that support adblocking and then accessing websites through the browser instead of the app for the website, which many users would definitely prefer to use.

  • N3Cr0
    link
    fedilink
    English
    669 months ago

    There is no defense?

    Imagine a world without Adblocker, haha!

  • AnonTwo
    link
    fedilink
    529 months ago

    Are we back in 1995? This should be common knowledge.

    Blocking ads to avoid their malware was the #1 reason to have adblocker.

    • newIdentity
      link
      fedilink
      English
      -339 months ago

      Actually it’s not really a problem anymore. Browsers have become probably the most secure softwares on your computer.

      0days for browsers are crazy expensive. Unless you’re targeted by state actors you have nothing to worry about.

      • mihnt
        link
        fedilink
        319 months ago

        Did you really just say this in a topic about this actual thing happening?

          • @Thann@lemmy.ml
            link
            fedilink
            English
            149 months ago

            There’s a 0day in chrome rn that let’s a picture take over your comp

            • newIdentity
              link
              fedilink
              English
              -199 months ago

              And there always will be, but for normal people living in a democracy, that’s not a problem since it’s a state trojan

                • newIdentity
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  -99 months ago

                  This is literally about a Trojan that is only sold to governments.

                  I don’t like it and it definitely can be abused, but it’s not as bad as in Mexico

            • newIdentity
              link
              fedilink
              English
              -9
              edit-2
              9 months ago

              Then you would now that it’s a state Trojan just like Pegasus and that exactly such a 0 day that is being sold for large amounts of money.

              Edit: actually it doesn’t, but Insanet is a company that sells state Trojans.

              • mihnt
                link
                fedilink
                5
                edit-2
                9 months ago

                And you’re trusting everything an article says about a virus that says there’s no solution?

                What’s to stop a black hat buying this to steal identities?
                What’s to stop one of the coders from leaking it? Or a black hat leaking it?
                What about someone targeting an incorrect target and by doing so it ends up in the hands of someone more nefarious?

                Hackers and black markets do what they want.
                Can’t afford it? Steal it.

                • newIdentity
                  link
                  fedilink
                  English
                  -7
                  edit-2
                  9 months ago

                  Actually I hope it gets leaked because that would mean it will gets fixed.

                  Also im pretty against state Trojans and such, but as long as it makes money.

                  And what’s stopping someone from leaking it? It’s not particularly illegal to sell exploits and leaking exploits owned by someone is illegal. Also they won’t sell it for free and browser exploits are really expensive. I talking about at least half a million dollars.

                  There is no solution, because nobody except the ones who made it know how it works and its not public.

      • filgas08
        link
        fedilink
        English
        179 months ago

        browsers have become probably the most secure softwares on your computer.

        No, no they did not.

  • Melllvar
    link
    fedilink
    English
    489 months ago

    The FBI recommends using an ad blocker for precisely this reason.

  • plz1
    link
    fedilink
    English
    279 months ago

    Defense against it

    • uBlock Origin
    • NextDNS (I highly recommend this to everyone because you can easily get it for mobile devices and block ads served over mobile networks)
    • PiHole
    • Plenty of other options

    But if corporate media reported on ways to block ads, it’d eat into their own bottom line, so I can understand their choice to skirt the whole “ads are blockable with some level of effort” conversation.

    I’ve been blocking online ads for nearly the entirety of my multi-decade usage of the internet, to the point where seeing them now is actually quite jarring. The fact that they’re now a prime vector for malware and spyware/capitalist surveillance just one-ups the decision to block them just for the annoyance factor.

  • @FluffyPotato@lemm.ee
    link
    fedilink
    English
    209 months ago

    Yea, that’s not new. Malware in ads has been around for like a decade. None of the major ad providers have given zero fucks about it so an ad blocker is mandatory and with Google trying to make ad blocking harder to impossible it’s only a matter of time until some major issues with this malware happens.

    • BeboOP
      link
      English
      1
      edit-2
      9 months ago

      But now they being used for targeting devices by Spyware! Another reason to hate ads.

    • BeboOP
      link
      English
      59 months ago

      Yes! And ublock origin on Firefox. And I use newpipe with sponsor block for youtube. Not seen an ad in ages. Ads are a cybersecurity threat no doubt.

      • @Alkatane@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        29 months ago

        For YouTube, I use ReVanced Extended, it has Sponsor Block, Return Dislikes Back and an Ad Block. (Btw it’s a fork of a fork)

        • BeboOP
          link
          English
          29 months ago

          Honestly, setting up revanced seems a little too much work to me. So I use newpipe which I find much easier to set up.

            • BeboOP
              link
              English
              19 months ago

              Fact is, I am lazy. Reading the long list of things to do to patch the app and to keep it updated put me off so I didn’t try.

  • Björn Tantau
    link
    fedilink
    English
    10
    edit-2
    9 months ago

    This is using some vulnerability in iOS. I’m an Android and Linux guy, but let’s hope Apple quickly finds the bug and fixes it. And fuck that agency for not alerting Apple and instead profiting from it. And fuck the Israeli government for enabling them.

    Edit: I misread, supposedly this is miraculously able to target every device.

    • Semi-Hemi-Demigod
      link
      fedilink
      109 months ago

      Even better: Thanks to ad tracking you can show specific malware to a specific cohort of people. Want to get spyware on every computer in DC? Just sign up for our ad program!

      • @fubo@lemmy.world
        link
        fedilink
        English
        89 months ago

        This sort of creepitude isn’t even specific to online ads.

        You know postal junk mail? The “direct marketing” companies that enable it will cheerfully sell you a list of the home addresses of people meeting any demographic characteristics you want.

        Do you have reason to want a list of 18-25-year-old gay men in the Boston area, widowed Asians in San Francisco, or military veterans in Oklahoma City? With their names, ages, and their home addresses?

        They can sell you one, perfectly legally, and it’s not even that expensive.

    • @madsen@lemmy.world
      link
      fedilink
      English
      6
      edit-2
      9 months ago

      From the article:

      What sets Insanet’s Sherlock apart from Pegasus is its exploitation of ad networks rather than vulnerabilities in phones. A Sherlock user creates an ad campaign that narrowly focuses on the target’s demographic and location, and places a spyware-laden ad with an ad exchange. Once the ad is served to a web page that the target views, the spyware is secretly installed on the target’s phone or computer.

      If they’re using ads on a web page to install spyware, then they’re most definitely exploiting vulnerabilities—unless they’re showing the user a ‘do you want to install XYZ?’, in which case this isn’t newsworthy at all. Ads aren’t some magical thing that can just go around installing shit silently, so I don’t know wtf the article is going on about, but it doesn’t make sense.

      Edit: The Register seems to have a more sensible take on it: https://www.theregister.com/2023/09/16/insanet_spyware/

    • gregorum
      link
      fedilink
      English
      3
      edit-2
      9 months ago

      Apple released an update day before yesterday, and another today.

  • @Treczoks@lemmy.world
    link
    fedilink
    English
    59 months ago

    And still websites are pissed that I block ads. Websites, the adblocker is not there to annoy you, it is there to protect me from your foolishness and lazyness when it comes to weed out bad actors.

    • BeboOP
      link
      English
      39 months ago

      And when websites demand I turn off the adblocker, I just close it.

  • sebinspace
    link
    fedilink
    English
    49 months ago

    Unity also purchased a company last year that was notorious for turning a blind eye to malvertisers