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It’s strange that even today, people are still not aware they should be using ad blockers with as many lists as they could live with. It’s no longer just about

It’s strange that even today, people are still not aware they should be using ad blockers with as many lists as they could live with. It’s no longer just about sanity and protecting attention, but now also about security, as we’ve heard more and more about malware running rampart from ad distribution servers.

px43 6y ago
The really crazy thing about using ad networks to distribute malware, which I think is very much still unrecognized, is how targeted you can make it. You can, for example, target people over the age of 70 that live in high net worth areas, or people that live geographically close to some organization you're targeting specifically, in hopes of hitting an employee, or someone in their family.
foo52728 6y ago
Really strange is the anti-ad-blocking campaign saying they make browsing slow and are privacy unfriendly
- emptyparadise 6y ago
  Makes perfect sense when you consider how much money is at stake.
- LeoNatan25 6y ago
  Don't forget the claims that adblocks risk your privacy, because they have access to all the sites you visit. >_<
- nicbou 6y ago
  I guess uBlock blocked those too
IfOnlyYouKnew 6y ago
I can't remember a single instance of people being infected by ads after the end of the IE era. And in 20 years on the internet, often without ad-blocking, I've never been a victim of anything like that (as far as I can tell, yes. But I'm somewhat certain and don't much care about symptomless problems). As far as I can tell, the security argument is advanced mostly as justification for blocking even unobtrusive ads by people who love to both complain about the terrible state of "mainstream media" and to read what they publish.
- jorvi 6y ago
  I have a physicist friend who somehow installed a fake Google Chrome, which still blows my mind to this day. Either his searches must have already been hijacked or Google really doesn't filter the ads at the top of the first page. Luckily enough he never got pwned despite conducting basically his entire digital life through that browser. Badware is still alive and well, but it's mostly tricking people into installing it. The days of ActiveX zero clicks are indeed (and thankfully!) long behind us.
- gorhill 6y ago
  > the security argument is advanced mostly as justification for blocking even unobtrusive ads by people who love to both complain about the terrible state of "mainstream media" Here are documented instances of malvertising I collated over the years, and which is by no mean comprehensive and which I haven't taken the time to update in a long while: https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Dynamic-filtering:-Benefits-of-blocking-3rd-party-iframe-tags#malware-protection https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Dynamic-filtering:-Be... Additionally, excerpt from CISA's "Securing Web Browsers and Defending Against Malvertising for Federal Agencies"[1]: > Ad-blocking software prevents advertisements from displaying or removes different types of ads (e.g., pop-ups, banner ads) when a user visits a website or uses an application. This software reduces a user’s risk in receiving malicious ads or being redirected to malicious websites. One common ad-blocking technique is the use of web browser extensions that enable a user or agency to customize and control the appearance of online ads. CISA encourages agencies to evaluate solutions that would enable malicious ad blocking. --- [1] https://www.cisa.gov/publication/capacity-enhancement-guides-federal-agencies https://www.cisa.gov/publication/capacity-enhancement-guides...
- LeoNatan25 6y ago
  If only you bothered to do a quick search in Google before typing that ignorant comment...
dylan604 6y ago
How is it strange? There are way more people that are not developers that browse the web not using a desktop. Hell, I'd imagine the number of people that think the entirety of the internet are the apps on their mobile device like FB,IG,Twitter,YT,etc is much larger than the number of developers that know and care about such things. I find it strange that "smart" people such as developers can't imagine people think differently than they do, and behave differently than they do.
- LeoNatan25 6y ago
  I meant strange in the context of the people I normally interact with, with regards to computers, which are usually developers or otherwise relatively tech savvy.
jfk13 6y ago
> It’s strange that even today, people are still not aware they should be using ad blockers with as many lists as they could live with. No, it's strange (or rather, it's sad and shameful) that we've allowed the web to become an environment where this attitude even needs to be considered.

px43 6y ago

The really crazy thing about using ad networks to distribute malware, which I think is very much still unrecognized, is how targeted you can make it. You can, for example, target people over the age of 70 that live in high net worth areas, or people that live geographically close to some organization you're targeting specifically, in hopes of hitting an employee, or someone in their family.

foo52728 6y ago

Really strange is the anti-ad-blocking campaign saying they make browsing slow and are privacy unfriendly

emptyparadise 6y ago
Makes perfect sense when you consider how much money is at stake.
LeoNatan25 6y ago
Don't forget the claims that adblocks risk your privacy, because they have access to all the sites you visit. >_<
nicbou 6y ago
I guess uBlock blocked those too

IfOnlyYouKnew 6y ago

I can't remember a single instance of people being infected by ads after the end of the IE era. And in 20 years on the internet, often without ad-blocking, I've never been a victim of anything like that (as far as I can tell, yes. But I'm somewhat certain and don't much care about symptomless problems). As far as I can tell, the security argument is advanced mostly as justification for blocking even unobtrusive ads by people who love to both complain about the terrible state of "mainstream media" and to read what they publish.

jorvi 6y ago
I have a physicist friend who somehow installed a fake Google Chrome, which still blows my mind to this day. Either his searches must have already been hijacked or Google really doesn't filter the ads at the top of the first page. Luckily enough he never got pwned despite conducting basically his entire digital life through that browser. Badware is still alive and well, but it's mostly tricking people into installing it. The days of ActiveX zero clicks are indeed (and thankfully!) long behind us.
gorhill 6y ago
> the security argument is advanced mostly as justification for blocking even unobtrusive ads by people who love to both complain about the terrible state of "mainstream media" Here are documented instances of malvertising I collated over the years, and which is by no mean comprehensive and which I haven't taken the time to update in a long while: https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Dynamic-filtering:-Benefits-of-blocking-3rd-party-iframe-tags#malware-protection https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock/wiki/Dynamic-filtering:-Be... Additionally, excerpt from CISA's "Securing Web Browsers and Defending Against Malvertising for Federal Agencies"[1]: > Ad-blocking software prevents advertisements from displaying or removes different types of ads (e.g., pop-ups, banner ads) when a user visits a website or uses an application. This software reduces a user’s risk in receiving malicious ads or being redirected to malicious websites. One common ad-blocking technique is the use of web browser extensions that enable a user or agency to customize and control the appearance of online ads. CISA encourages agencies to evaluate solutions that would enable malicious ad blocking. --- [1] https://www.cisa.gov/publication/capacity-enhancement-guides-federal-agencies https://www.cisa.gov/publication/capacity-enhancement-guides...
LeoNatan25 6y ago
If only you bothered to do a quick search in Google before typing that ignorant comment...

dylan604 6y ago

How is it strange? There are way more people that are not developers that browse the web not using a desktop. Hell, I'd imagine the number of people that think the entirety of the internet are the apps on their mobile device like FB,IG,Twitter,YT,etc is much larger than the number of developers that know and care about such things. I find it strange that "smart" people such as developers can't imagine people think differently than they do, and behave differently than they do.

LeoNatan25 6y ago
I meant strange in the context of the people I normally interact with, with regards to computers, which are usually developers or otherwise relatively tech savvy.

jfk13 6y ago

> It’s strange that even today, people are still not aware they should be using ad blockers with as many lists as they could live with. No, it's strange (or rather, it's sad and shameful) that we've allowed the web to become an environment where this attitude even needs to be considered.