# An idea on how to reduce malware on the SDMB

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-idea-on-how-to-reduce-malware-on-the-sdmb/607358>\
**Category:** About This Message Board\
**Created:** [December 25, 2011, 2:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-idea-on-how-to-reduce-malware-on-the-sdmb/607358 "2011-12-25T14:06:30Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 2

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**Author:** ![Hbns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/8edcca/32.png) [@Hbns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hbns)\
**Post date:** [December 27, 2011, 9:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-idea-on-how-to-reduce-malware-on-the-sdmb/607358/21 "2011-12-27T21:09:41Z")

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Does **Tuba’s** “more to the story” and links to several articles about the OpenX ad server being exploited suggest that the SDMB is serving ads through OpenX?

If so, I hope they are aware that there is a recently announced update to fix known vulnerabilities.

[Does Security Really Matter to OpenX?](http://www.whitefirdesign.com/blog/category/openx/)

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**Author:** ![Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ecccb3/32.png) [@Skald\_the\_Rhymer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skald_the_Rhymer)\
**Post date:** [December 27, 2011, 10:07pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-idea-on-how-to-reduce-malware-on-the-sdmb/607358/22 "2011-12-27T22:07:59Z")

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> [@Guinastasia](#):
>
> It’s called “scare ware”. Pretty nasty. I got hit with one a year ago.

I always think of it as _ransom_ware. I got hit by it once. It was bad enough that I blamed the Welsh AND the Etruscans.

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**Author:** ![Fear\_Itself](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fear_itself/32/19637_2.png) [@Fear\_Itself](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fear_Itself)\
**Post date:** [December 27, 2011, 10:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/an-idea-on-how-to-reduce-malware-on-the-sdmb/607358/23 "2011-12-27T22:56:20Z")

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> [@Gagundathar](#):
>
> Why do these things even exist? Who makes money off of them?  
> :mad:

[FBI Busts ‘Scareware’ Gang That Bilked Victims Of More Than $100 Million](http://www.darkreading.com/insider-threat/167801100/security/antivirus/225200545/index.html)

> [@](#):
>
> An international cybercrime scheme caused Internet users in more than 60 countries to purchase more than one million bogus software products, causing victims to lose more than $100 million, according to a federal indictment returned here against a Cincinnati area man and two other men believed to be living abroad. The charges allege that the defendants, through fake advertisements placed on various legitimate companies’ websites, deceived Internet users into falsely believing that their computers were infected with “malware” or had other critical errors to induce them to purchase “scareware” software products that had limited or no ability to remedy the purported, but nonexistent, defects. The alleged scheme is widely regarded as one of the fastest-growing and most prevalent types of Internet fraud.

Let that sink in:

1. Million. Dollars

That is why this is not going away any time soon. They have more money to hire better programmers than we do.

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