Home
Internet
Internet News
Yahoo says some ads on its Europe sites spread malware

Yahoo says some ads on its Europe sites spread malware

By Reuters | Updated: 6 January 2014 08:43 IST

Click Here to Add Gadgets360 As A Trusted Source

Some advertisements on Yahoo Inc's European websites last week spread malicious software, Yahoo said on Sunday, potentially infecting thousands of users.

On Friday, Fox-IT, a Delft, Netherlands-based computer security firm, wrote in a blog that attackers had inserted malicious ads served by ads.yahoo.com.

In statement on Sunday, a Yahoo spokesman, said: "On Friday, January 3 on our European sites, we served some advertisements that did not meet our editorial guidelines, specifically they spread malware." Yahoo said it promptly removed the bad ads, and that users of Mac computers and mobile devices were not affected.

Malware is software used to disrupt a computer's operations, gather sensitive information, or gain access to private computer systems.

Fox-IT estimated that on Friday, the malware was being delivered to approximately 300,000 users per hour, leading to about 27,000 infections per hour. The countries with the most affected users were Romania, Britain, and France.

"It is unclear which specific group is behind this attack, but the attackers are clearly financially motivated and seem to offer services to other actors," Fox-IT wrote in the January 3 blog post.

Comments

Get your daily dose of tech news, reviews, and insights, in under 80 characters on Gadgets 360 Turbo. Connect with fellow tech lovers on our Forum. Follow us on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News for instant updates. Catch all the action on our YouTube channel.