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Most ad companies restrict their users to having either banner ads (only an image) or text ads (only ascii). How can either an image or text cause malware by i
by true_religion 14y ago
Most ad companies restrict their users to having either banner ads (only an image) or text ads (only ascii).
How can either an image or text cause malware by itself?
- Karunamon 14y agoFor a while there, there were image bugs floating around in a Microosft library (CBA'd to look it up now) that would allow infection based on a specially crafted .BMP image. And not all ad networks use images only; some do javascript, or worse, flash. This is a case of a few morons ruining it for legitimate sites, unfortunately. Tragedy of the commons. The result is that I now block ads by default, on every device I own, unless I have a good reason not to. Again, the miniscule amount of support I'd be providing to whatever site is greatly offset by the risk of being served some nasty infection.
- true_religion 14y agoI have never met an ad company that would let you use a bitmap file, or a tiff file, or any such format as your creative. They typically allow GIF and JPEG. Some do allow flash, but those are few and far between and even they heavily vet those who use Flash and require only established (and presumably honest) companies to do so. It really cuts down on the malicious usage. If someone is running 3rd party ads with unvetted systems, its probably because they are (a) ignorant of others (b) seduced by the high pay rates or (c) did something to get themselves blacklisted at more venerable agencies.