{"id":255516,"date":"2016-10-06T14:41:04","date_gmt":"2016-10-06T14:41:04","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=255516"},"modified":"2016-10-06T14:41:04","modified_gmt":"2016-10-06T14:41:04","slug":"spotify-ads-launched-virus-pop-ups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/2016\/10\/spotify-ads-launched-virus-pop-ups\/","title":{"rendered":"Spotify ads ‘launched virus pop-ups’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Spotify says it has fixed a problem in its software that let rogue adverts automatically open virus-infected websites on a victim’s device.<\/p>\n

The so-called malvertising affected Spotify’s subscription-free service on Windows, Mac and Linux machines.<\/p>\n

People reported that virus-infected pop-up websites were appearing while they listened to music.<\/p>\n

Spotify said in a statement: “We have now identified the source of the problem and have shut it down.”<\/p>\n

It said “questionable website pop-ups” had affected a “small number of users”.<\/p>\n

Cybersecurity experts have warned that malvertising is on the rise, because the scale of popular advertising networks can be misused to push malicious content to a wide audience.<\/p>\n

“Malvertising can slip onto any platform or website that displays ads delivered by advertising networks,” said Jan Zika of antivirus firm Avast.<\/p>\n

“While malvertising is usually hosted on sites that provide illegal content such as movie downloads, it does occasionally make its way on to more mainstream platforms, such as Spotify.<\/p>\n

“Users should install antivirus software that will catch malvertising before it can do any harm.”<\/p>\n

It is not the first time Spotify has inadvertently distributed malware-infected content through its advertising network. A similar issue<\/a> affected the software in 2011.<\/p>\n

Other prominent companies have also been targeted.<\/p>\n

Malicious advertisements<\/strong><\/p>\n

“We’ve seen an increase in malvertising of this kind,” said Rahul Kashyap of the computer security company Bromium.<\/p>\n

“Malware via ads provides great return of interest for the attackers and are difficult to be reliably blocked at the ad launch.”<\/p>\n

The company said it had found<\/a> that more than a quarter of the world’s 1,000 most visited websites had delivered malware through malicious advertisements in 2015.<\/p>\n

Spotify said it would “continue to monitor” advertisements in its software.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

–<\/p>\n

Source: BBC<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Spotify says it has fixed a problem in its software that let rogue adverts automatically open virus-infected websites on a victim’s device. The so-called malvertising affected Spotify’s subscription-free service on Windows, Mac and Linux machines. People reported that virus-infected pop-up websites were appearing while they listened to music. Spotify said in a statement: “We have […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":255517,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[106],"tags":[12404,12405,12406,5286],"yoast_head":"\nSpotify ads 'launched virus pop-ups' - Citi 97.3 FM - Relevant Radio. 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