• 8 Posts
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Joined 6 months ago
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Cake day: January 10th, 2024

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  • The ad doesn’t actually deliver the malware, just directs people to a malicious download that mimics the Arc Browser. Users then have to follow onscreen instructions to install the malicious application in a non-standard way that allows it to bypass built-in protections in macOS to make it harder to install unsigned apps.

    I’m curious how successful this campaign would be. It requires a lot of bad behavior by the victim to succeed. First, they’d have to decide to download a new web browser just from one banner ad, without doing any research on the browser; just click the link in the ad to go directly to the malicious download and install it directly from there. Second, they’d have to convince the user to right-click and select “Open” instead of simply double-clicking the installer or dragging it to the Applications folder like every other Mac application; otherwise the OS blocks it. I’m sure there are users dumb enough to do either step, but the subset of users dumb enough to do both steps and be on macOS and see this ad, I’m thinking they might only nab a few hundred victims tops, if that. I suspect this might be a proof of concept more than anything; probably most of the downloads were security researchers or potential customers testing it out. It sounds like the security researchers were following the malware seller, then found the ad, not the other way around. And of course, the ad has been taken down by Google now.

    Like most other large advertising networks, Google Ads regularly serves malicious content that isn’t taken down until third parties have notified the company. Google Ads takes no responsibility for any damage that may result from these oversights. The company said in an email it removes malicious ads once it learns of them and suspends the advertiser and has done so in this case.

    Earlier in the article they said Google had “vetted” the company that bought the ad. It seems their process sucks and this policy is a cop-out, and all of that just to net Google, what, a couple bucks on this short-lived fraudulent campaign?





  • It’s hard to get there on the phone now, though, if you don’t already have a name and phone number. You can probably get a name off LinkedIn, but a main phone number for a company probably won’t get you anywhere now since a lot of companies don’t have receptionists anymore. You’re lucky if the phone tree has a dial by name option. I’m glad I’m not in that kind of business anymore.




  • If it’s on physical disc in one region but not where you live, it might be possible to purchase that disc and ship it to your home. While it might be region-blocked on the disc, there are ways to bypass that with certain disc players or converting them on your computer. The legality of bypassing region-blocking may vary depending on your jurisdiction, but from a technical standpoint it’s certainly possible. It’s probably less legal liability than going straight to piracy (especially compared to the liability from torrenting where they try to claim someone’s engaged in illegal distribution).