Malware delivered by bad ads takes over your home router to serve more bad ads (for now)

Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2016/12/15/malware-delivered-by-bad-ads-t.html

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It seems this is an underlying flaw with how browsers handle the data: URI
Since it doesn’t trigger a new HTTP request, blocking a PNG is very difficult. It seems to me that a lasting solution would be a browser that does not support or process PNG coupled with a depreciation/elimination of PNG

And again dear website owners who complain about adblocking as long as you don’t hold the ad companies responsible for this shit I will keep using one.

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I always wonder if the crappy routers from Verizon are more prone to attack than a decent third party product.

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For more on router security see www.RouterSecurity.org.
The article mentioned on defense, changing the LAN side IP address of the router. An additional defense would be to change the port number used for local administration. That is, rather than logon to the router with http:// 1.2.3.4 instead use http: //1.2.3.4:9999
Not every router can do this, however. This would now help Netgear owners, however Netgear routers do not allow changing the port number.

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I had a look at this. I’m technical only at the level of being the kind of person colleagues go to before they try calling the IT folks. Reading this reminded me of how I felt years ago working in a small office where I had to stand in for any actual IT support. Everything I could lay my hands on seemed to either be at the level of how to turn the computer on or, instead, on the assumption that editing the registry was no big deal. I wonder if there’s a resource that would be a better fit for someone like me who, for instance, only has a general idea what ports are, but wouldn’t mind learning.

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