# If you get hit by malware on the SDMB **URL:** \ **Category:** About This Message Board\ **Created:** [December 15, 2011, 6:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-hit-by-malware-on-the-sdmb/606319 "2011-12-15T18:24:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 5
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [October 10, 2014, 4:10pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-hit-by-malware-on-the-sdmb/606319/96 "2014-10-10T16:10:33Z")
Quantserve is one of those tracking cookie things advertisers use to, well, track your actions online. Don’t think it’s malware per se (though I’m sure there’s many that would disagree, they view all this sort of thing as bad actors and they may well be right). ---
**Author:** ![get\_lives](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/ecb155/32.png) [@get\_lives](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/get_lives)\ **Post date:** [November 3, 2014, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-hit-by-malware-on-the-sdmb/606319/97 "2014-11-03T04:02:29Z")
Every few times I load a SDMB page on my iPhone, I get a redirect to some spammy web page, which immediately redirects me to the iOS app store for various worthless games like Bejeweled, etc… Is this intentional on the part of the SDMB? This doesn’t happen on my android tablet, only the iPhone. The iPhone only does this on the SDMB, no other webpages. ---
**Author:** ![TubaDiva](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/tubadiva/32/507_2.png) [@TubaDiva](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TubaDiva)\ **Post date:** [November 5, 2014, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-hit-by-malware-on-the-sdmb/606319/98 "2014-11-05T01:42:23Z")
No, you shouldn’t be getting redirects at all. It’s possible there’s a rogue ad hiding on the board that’s doing this. Do you remember what you have seen when this happens? I’m sorry this has happened to you. Please, if you see this again and you can see what the ad is – or even better, if you can get a screen shot – that would be super helpful. Send your information to me. [tubadiva@straightdope.com](mailto:tubadiva@straightdope.com). And again, if this is a bad acting advertisement on the Straight Dope site, we’ll work to get it removed. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2015, 4:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-hit-by-malware-on-the-sdmb/606319/99 "2015-03-19T16:39:27Z")
Hi. NOT terribly tech savvy. I followed this link to a subscribed thread: DiggitCamara has just replied to a thread you have subscribed to entitled - Should responding to a bomb threat be illegal by federal law? - in the In My Humble Opinion (IMHO) forum of Straight Dope Message Board. This thread is located at: [http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=747287&goto=newpost](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=747287&goto=newpost) and it redirected me (using Chrome) to a site which had some popup boxes regarding my flash player being insignificant. I tried to close the boxes (rather than clicking on anything) and it downloaded a file called “setup” which was suspiciously vague about what it was for. I’ve deleted the file without running it, so I can’t tell you more. Just a heads up. The next time I clicked the link, it went to the right place. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 4:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-hit-by-malware-on-the-sdmb/606319/100 "2015-03-24T16:28:55Z")
Got this again. “The webpage at [www.adblade.com](http://www.adblade.com)” + not-quite-English which essentially said “click here for an updated version of flash.” My flash is up to date, thank you very much. Again, first click of the day. I couldn’t get a screen shot as the system froze, but no damage. Yet. ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 6:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-hit-by-malware-on-the-sdmb/606319/101 "2015-03-24T18:20:33Z")
I’m getting this on some threads now. It’s a pop-up about Flash needing to be updated then when you X out it pops up again, then when you X out of that one it redirects to this site: http:// [us.oputster.com](http://us.oputster.com) /hehe/js/ca/index.html (link broken by me.) My work’s antivirus grabs it as malware and gives an error message. ---
**Author:** ![Asympotically\_fat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/e47c2d/32.png) [@Asympotically\_fat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Asympotically_fat)\ **Post date:** [March 24, 2015, 6:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-hit-by-malware-on-the-sdmb/606319/102 "2015-03-24T18:40:09Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Got this again. “The webpage at [www.adblade.com](http://www.adblade.com)” + not-quite-English which essentially said “click here for an updated version of flash.” My flash is up to date, thank you very much. Again, first click of the day. I couldn’t get a screen shot as the system froze, but no damage. Yet. I have the same problem. ---
**Author:** ![Soylent\_Juicy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/82dd89/32.png) [@Soylent\_Juicy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Soylent_Juicy)\ **Post date:** [March 25, 2015, 4:17pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-hit-by-malware-on-the-sdmb/606319/103 "2015-03-25T16:17:26Z")
I’m getting redirected to this now on some threads: http:// cldrload. com /?a=18065&c=65910&s1=xad267-gbfrauca-300-js-ly-AD-browser-ca-cd (Link broken by me.) ---
**Author:** ![Charlie\_Wayne](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/4bbf92/32.png) [@Charlie\_Wayne](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Charlie_Wayne)\ **Post date:** [March 27, 2015, 5:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-hit-by-malware-on-the-sdmb/606319/104 "2015-03-27T17:29:46Z")
I was checking into a few things on my PC. I saw that Jake Gyllenhaal had made a new film about boxing titled, “Southpaw”. I spent about an hour looking around and during that hour I engaged in very light activity - much lighter than usual. Anyway, I was surprised to see a message that was purportedly from Google. It said, “Our systems have detected unusual traffic from your computer network. This page checks to see if it’s really you sending the requests, and not a robot.” It seemed very suspicious to me. So, when I got this message saying “they” (whoever “they” were) wanted me to click on something, I became highly suspicious and didn’t want to co-operate at all. Anyway, I just thought I would post this and let the folks here see what it was and maybe someone here could discover what this was about? It sure did stump me. What the Hell was this all about? I had no idea! Anyway, It sure did not look very professional to me and I wanted to see if anyone could give me a reasonable explanation. I had no idea what it was that was going on. However, this show did not appear to me to have the sophistication to detect this kind of stuff and to then go ahead and do anything about it. So, I’d just like to offer these facts to the people here and see if anyone might have anything interesting to say? * * * About this page Our systems have detected unusual traffic from your computer network. This page checks to see if it’s really you sending the requests, and not a robot. Why did this happen? IP address: 24.52.206.8 Time: 2015-03-27T17:12:16Z URL: [imdb southpaw - Google Search](https://www.google.ca/search?q=imdb+southpaw&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&gws_rd=cr&ei=b48VVY6tN-jnsAT_2oGADw) * * * [https://ipv4.google.com/sorry/IndexRedirect?continue=https://www.google.ca/search%3Fq%3Dimdb%2Bsouthpaw%26ie%3Dutf-8%26oe%3Dutf-8%26gws\_rd%3Dcr%26ei%3Db48VVY6tN-jnsAT\_2oGADw&q=CGMSBBg0zggY8J7WqAUiGQDxp4NL1q4DQz0bJe59044nuLWb1VI\_-mg](https://ipv4.google.com/sorry/IndexRedirect?continue=https://www.google.ca/search%3Fq%3Dimdb%2Bsouthpaw%26ie%3Dutf-8%26oe%3Dutf-8%26gws_rd%3Dcr%26ei%3Db48VVY6tN-jnsAT_2oGADw&q=CGMSBBg0zggY8J7WqAUiGQDxp4NL1q4DQz0bJe59044nuLWb1VI_-mg) To continue, please type the characters below: Please enable images About this page Our systems have detected unusual traffic from your computer network. This page checks to see if it’s really you sending the requests, and not a robot. Why did this happen? IP address: 24.52.206.8 Time: 2015-03-27T17:12:16Z URL: [imdb southpaw - Google Search](https://www.google.ca/search?q=imdb+southpaw&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&gws_rd=cr&ei=b48VVY6tN-jnsAT_2oGADw) > [@TubaDiva](#): > > Quantserve is one of those tracking cookie things advertisers use to, well, track your actions online. > > Don’t think it’s malware per se (though I’m sure there’s many that would disagree, they view all this sort of thing as bad actors and they may well be right). About this page Our systems have detected unusual traffic from your computer network. This page checks to see if it’s really you sending the requests, and not a robot. Why did this happen? IP address: 24.52.206.8 Time: 2015-03-27T17:12:16Z URL: [imdb southpaw - Google Search](https://www.google.ca/search?q=imdb+southpaw&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&gws_rd=cr&ei=b48VVY6tN-jnsAT_2oGADw) ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2015, 1:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-hit-by-malware-on-the-sdmb/606319/106 "2015-07-16T13:27:56Z")
I don’t usually check the SDMB from my ipad, but I am this morning and within just a few minutes had the ap store pop up on the entry for some game and then soon afterward had my browser attempt to some [go2cloud.org](http://go2cloud.org) site. The page did not load properly before I hit “back” and I was in incognito mode so it wasn’t saved in my history and I’m not sure of the exact address. Both of these happened without me clicking on anything, soon after opening a forum. ---
**Author:** ![Lamia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/8e7dd6/32.png) [@Lamia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lamia)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2015, 1:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-hit-by-malware-on-the-sdmb/606319/107 "2015-07-16T13:30:33Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > I don’t usually check the SDMB from my ipad, but I am this morning and within just a few minutes had the ap store pop up on the entry for some game and then soon afterward had my browser attempt to some [go2cloud.org](http://go2cloud.org) site. The page did not load properly before I hit “back” and I was in incognito mode so it wasn’t saved in my history and I’m not sure of the exact address. I think it may have been [wadogo.go2cloud.org](http://wadogo.go2cloud.org), but the full address was very long. ---
**Author:** ![BCDeb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ecd19e/32.png) [@BCDeb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BCDeb)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2015, 4:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-hit-by-malware-on-the-sdmb/606319/108 "2015-07-17T04:43:32Z")
I used IE for my browser, and before I come to this site, I go to Internet Options -\> Privacy, and set the pop-up block to maximum. I do not get pop-ups when I come here. Then after I leave, I have to change the setting back to normal, because the maximum setting blocks things I want at other sites. It is too bad. I do not really understand why Straight Dope had to go this way. ---
**Author:** ![Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a88e4f/32.png) [@Digital\_is\_the\_new\_Analog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Digital_is_the_new_Analog)\ **Post date:** [July 18, 2015, 8:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-hit-by-malware-on-the-sdmb/606319/109 "2015-07-18T20:28:04Z")
> [@Lamia](#): > > I don’t usually check the SDMB from my ipad, but I am this morning and within just a few minutes had the ap store pop up on the entry for some game and then soon afterward had my browser attempt to some [go2cloud.org](http://go2cloud.org) site. The page did not load properly before I hit “back” and I was in incognito mode so it wasn’t saved in my history and I’m not sure of the exact address. > > Both of these happened without me clicking on anything, soon after opening a forum. Possibly the same thing as [this thread](http://boards.straightdope.com/sdmb/showthread.php?t=760596) about redirects on mobile devices. ---
**Author:** ![galen\_ubal](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/galen_ubal/32/4440_2.png) [@galen\_ubal](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/galen_ubal)\ **Post date:** [August 17, 2015, 7:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-hit-by-malware-on-the-sdmb/606319/112 "2015-08-17T07:03:09Z")
> [@coinsshop](#): > > FIFA 16 Coins is your best site to buy All Games Currencies, We have been constantly trying our best to provide our customers with the best service and products at the lowest price. You can definitely get the cheapest from us at [http://www.fastfifacoins.com/Fifa16coins/](http://www.fastfifacoins.com/Fifa16coins/) Reported ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 8:36am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-hit-by-malware-on-the-sdmb/606319/117 "2017-10-04T08:36:07Z")
It looks like malware is back - in both Chrome and Firefox on Windows 8.1 I am getting redirected and popups and click hijacks. Turning off Javascript allows me to browse normally so I suspect one of your ads has malicious scripts. Note: I use adblockers in both browsers, so this may not be related to ads. Its definitely a script though. Example: in Chrome, once a page has loaded, all links are hijacked to point to (broken intentionally) > [@](#): > > http : [//www.reimageplus.com/lp/rgn/index3.php?tracking=XML&banner=Feed1\_Open1\_ZA\_1.64\_RVB2VID\_1200&adgroup=boards.straightdope.com&ads\_name=Main%20%20Straight%20Dope%20Message%20Board&keyword=direct&xml\_uuid=C81DB426-2AB0-492B-9AA3-C5A45343E4B2&nms=1&vid=1&lpx=rvb2](https://www.reimageplus.com/lp/rgn/index3.php?tracking=XML&banner=Feed1_Open1_ZA_1.64_RVB2VID_1200&adgroup=boards.straightdope.com&ads_name=Main%20%20Straight%20Dope%20Message%20Board&keyword=direct&xml_uuid=C81DB426-2AB0-492B-9AA3-C5A45343E4B2&nms=1&vid=1&lpx=rvb2) I am a software developer by trade, so I have eliminated all other possibilities (ie, its you, not me!) ---
**Author:** ![scudsucker](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/scudsucker/32/14101_2.png) [@scudsucker](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/scudsucker)\ **Post date:** [October 4, 2017, 9:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-hit-by-malware-on-the-sdmb/606319/118 "2017-10-04T09:27:16Z")
My apologies; I was only experiencing this on SMDB which lead me to believe that it was an ad. I now have experienced the same issue elsewhere. Seems to have arrived in a bad install of [paint.net](http://paint.net) (a free graphics program) > [@scudsucker](#): > > I am a software developer by trade, so I have eliminated all other possibilities (ie, its you, not me!) Nothing like a little smugness to invite making a fool of myself… ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [January 27, 2018, 6:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-hit-by-malware-on-the-sdmb/606319/119 "2018-01-27T06:50:00Z")
I just got a message from Avast that a threat has been detected and it stopped me from opening the thread "Facebook as a “news source”. I couldn’t copy exactly what it said the threat was but it had something to do with Facebook and phishing. It’s probably some stupid error but I thought I’d let you know just in case. I visited the thread earlier with no issue so it’s probably nothing. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [January 31, 2018, 4:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-hit-by-malware-on-the-sdmb/606319/120 "2018-01-31T04:18:20Z")
I just got another “threat detected” with another thread with the word “Facebook” in the title. Guess that’s the problem. It said the threat was a Facebook phishing scam. ---
**Author:** ![Rushgeekgirl](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rushgeekgirl/32/3715_2.png) [@Rushgeekgirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rushgeekgirl)\ **Post date:** [February 3, 2018, 6:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-hit-by-malware-on-the-sdmb/606319/121 "2018-02-03T06:30:11Z")
I don’t know if anyone’s even checking this thread but it still happens on those two threads. This is the warning that pops up and won’t let me open either page: HTML:Facebook-A [Phish] [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/if-you-get-hit-by-malware-on-the-sdmb/606319.md?page=4)