Microsoft aims legal guns at malvertising
Filed under: Microsoft
The battle between the software industry and malware purveyors was just ratcheted up a notch. Microsoft (MSFT) filed five civil lawsuits on Thursday, which the software giant says it hopes will deter malware scams in the future. Sometimes called "malvertising," it's a method used by scammers to convince consumers to buy unneeded software or to install malicious software through Internet advertising.
Malvertising has disrupted many companies, with the New York Times' website getting hit by the fake ads on Saturday. The newspaper was forced to suspend all its third-party Web advertising while it cleared up the problem.
And while Microsoft is concerned about harm done to its customers who may have bought unwanted software or allowed a nasty software program to run amok on their PCs, it's also going after the malvertisers for trademark infringement. If you've ever been a victim of a malvertisement, you'll understand why. The ads often mimic the appearance of a Windows alert, such as this screen shot of the New York Times' malvertisement from Saturday.
According to Microsoft's lawsuit against "Soft Solutions," the defendant's website allegedly "has been designed to resemble the look and feel of Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system." Such tactics, Microsoft claims, has induced at least hundreds of consumers to buy and install the malvertiser's software.
The lawsuits, which were filed in King County Superior Court in Seattle, also outline how some of the defendants allegedly misrepresented themselves to gain access to Microsoft's customers.
In the lawsuit against "Direct Ad Solutions," Microsoft alleges the company represented itself as an ad firm working for a travel agency called Global Travel International, which sought to place an online ad on Microsoft's MSN websites. After the ads were placed on the MSN network, Microsoft realized the ads redirected consumers to malvertisements, the lawsuit alleges.
Microsoft has posted some advice on how to be alert to such scams. Just as the New York Times (NYT) advised its readers, Microsoft wants you to remember never to click on a pop-up screen claiming your computer is infected. If you do, you might just become one of the hundreds or more hurt by such scams.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-18-2009 @ 3:08PM
Brad said...
What a joke. Suing anonymous individuals will get them no where I am betting. But oh well, waste your money if you want Microsoft. In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if Microsoft is one of those entities, trying to get people to buy their crappy operating system. Microsoft should be sued for selling junk.
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9-20-2009 @ 9:14AM
JP said...
I've had those scams come up before on my computer. You don't want to bother with them. Just do an end task (ctrl alt del) on your PC or just shut down and get rid of it. The only warning you should ever see would be from your own security software. The best Pc security software I ever used can be found here. The Geeks recommended it to me a few years back. The Pro version is tops.
9-20-2009 @ 12:01PM
KAAAAAARA said...
You are one of the 2 people in the world with a Mac are you? XD
9-20-2009 @ 8:20AM
Jody said...
Bob, why would I pay someone to have them pay me? You probably work for that company. I just looked at the link.
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9-20-2009 @ 9:20AM
JP said...
Jody: They are actually affiliates for the company. They are either paid by getting leads or from people signing up through their link.
9-20-2009 @ 8:51AM
bfgair said...
WHY DOESN'T AOL GO AFTER THOSE A$$HOLES THAT GET FREE ADVERTISING IN THE COMMENTS PAGE. THIS IS MOST ANNOYING TO HAVE TO GO THRU ALL THE CRAP ABOUT HOW THEY MADE MONEY FROM NOTHING OR LOST WEIGHT FROM THEIR FAT LAZY A$$ES OR THE WORST YET HOW TO FIND A MILLIONAIRE SUCKER TO MARRY YOU SO YOU TO CAN WIDEN YOUR HORIZONS AND BUTT AT THE SAME TIME.
AOL STOP ALL THIS BULL$$IT AND KICK THESE FREELOADING PESTS OFF THE PAGES THAT WE THE PEOPLE THAT PAY YOU DON'T LIKE.
HELLO IS ANY BODY THERE IN THE OFFICES OF AOL OR HAVE YOU SHIPPED ALL OF THEM OFF SHORE AS WELL.
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9-20-2009 @ 11:03AM
JAMES said...
I AGREE....THANKS BECAUSE I ACTUALLY LIKE SOME OF AOL'S FEATURES AND HAVE USED IT FOR 15 YEARS BUT.......TIME-WARNER WANTS TO GET RID OF AOL......SO HEY PREDITORS....ENJOY THE TIME WHILE IT LASTS!...THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A TOS ANYMORE....
9-22-2009 @ 1:43PM
richard said...
to many people have been hocked by these games to get you to buy their spyware.now if toy have carpal tunnel pain go to "docrichardscream.com" and see how fast you can get rid of that pain.
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9-20-2009 @ 10:23AM
AmBegonia said...
Good for you, Microsoft! It certainly sounds like a good lawsuit to me. If more companies filed suit like that just maybe we'll see less of these scammers!
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9-20-2009 @ 10:33AM
Lynn said...
I lost 2 computers last month from the Bull$$hit maleware. thank goodness i regulary back my stuff up. What i don't understand is how some people sleep at night knowing they've just screwed someones puter up. What a sick society we live in today. We have people who actually get a kick out of screwing up someone else's lives. I had alot of pics of my mother whom passed away last Dec. and just to think that someone got a kick out of knowing Fkd up my stuff makes me sick.
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9-20-2009 @ 10:44AM
Jo said...
Lyn, my new computer waas hit by a worm and it destroyed my computer, but, I have an external drive that I backup my files and programs on. An external drive is great and you never have to wonder if your pics are going to be destroyed one monring when you get up and on line. The worm didnt touch a thign in my external drive. I really bought the external to keep most info off the pc , so it would not get bogged down and slowed down as far as speed. You might want to get one as it really is good.
9-20-2009 @ 10:50AM
Robin said...
Lynn, you're on the same page as me. I said the same thing to my husband when I got hit last month with one of these. They're messing with peoples lives. They look like something from Microsoft, they even copied Microsoft's logo. Absolute fraud. Took us over 2 hours to figure out how to get rid of it. I am so glad they're going after these scummy dirtbags.
9-20-2009 @ 1:49PM
Shelby said...
Lynn:
Get a good spyware program to be prepared. If you have the stuff come up again where it blocks your screen and you can't do anything, boot up in Safe Mode with Network (hit F8 several times while starting up and go to this seting). Then start up your spyware program, update it and run it in the Safe mode. This will clean the crap out of your computer and seve you $$$.
I personally like XoftSpySE at paretologic.com because it's fast and thorough; there are free ones available, like Spybot S&D but I don't know if they'll take care of this; I can only vouch for XoftSpySE because it worked for me when I had this problem -- it paid for itself.
Good luck!
9-20-2009 @ 10:59AM
SheD said...
way to go Microsoft!!!! I hope to H*ll you get somewhere with it!!! I have had this happen several times. not sure what sites it had come from when it has happened. and you CAN NOT just shut down or do an end task to get rid of it. they are a virus and attaches itself to your browser. I too have lost stuff several times because no virus protection could get if off my puter and had to format. This happened to a friend of mine just last week.
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9-20-2009 @ 11:27AM
carl said...
I Blame Microsoft, for not properly screening these bogus ads....My best computer was almost destroyed..Because of one of those bogus ads...Woke up one morning and thereit was, in total control of my computer..I had to buy another hard drive.....Stop the Bull....MS, you can very easily stop this
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9-21-2009 @ 12:36AM
Wes said...
on my dad's vista laptop, this thing popped up called Windows PC Defender that said we had like 20 virusis including the Trojan. there was a link which i pressed that took me to a page asking for like $60.00. of course I said no because you can download McAffe free with AOL ( he did not have a security program yet). so I downloaded it and it said there were no problems with the computer. the thing still popped up though. I decided to call the GEEK SQUAD. they said that it is probobally fake if you have a virus software that says there is no problem. He then said put your computer through a full scan. So i did and it said there was 1 problem it got rid of. i havn't seen it since
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9-20-2009 @ 12:27PM
immorsecode said...
Yeah, the only reason they are jumping on it now is because A big company got hit or else the hell with us. This Windows pop up has been going on for a long time so why are they just now addressing this ? And yes these stupid spammers posting their crap has gotten totally out of hand.
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9-20-2009 @ 12:28PM
parrotthebeak said...
I HAVE SEEN THAT "TROJAN" ON MY SCREEN, BUT I HAVE MCAFEE, AND IT WILL STOP IT ANYWAY...!!
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9-20-2009 @ 1:11PM
immorsecode said...
Parrotthebeak....Don't put to much faith in your security. I have a friend who has McAfee and their computer crashed from this same thing. I have Norton and it also ignored this windows popup because it is disguised as a windows update. I might recommend an interesting site that can help you uninstall it. Google AntiVirus 360.
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9-20-2009 @ 1:12PM
Silent Josh said...
People actually fall for those things?
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