Scout.com Message Board Serving Spyware Infested Banners

Miscellaneous & Fun Stuff10

It is hard to believe, but it is true. Scout’s message board are serving banners ads that that launch spyware on your computer. Scout has known about the problem, but refuses to fix the issue. Here is a thread from InsideCarolina and one from PackPride.

About StateFans

'StateFansNation' is the shared profile used by any/all of the dozen or so authors that contribute to the blog. You may not always agree with us, but you will have little doubt about where we stand on most issues. Please follow us on Twitter and FaceBook

Miscellaneous & Fun Stuff

10 Responses to Scout.com Message Board Serving Spyware Infested Banners

  1. Wufpacker 08/09/2010 at 11:29 AM #

    It is sad, but many “mainstream” web sites now host various ads, add ons, etc. that will put this sort of thing on your machine. Or at least try to.

    I rarely, if ever, go to questionable sites, yet Norton finds 10+ of these things per day and removes them. It is the way of the cyberworld. Try to load this stuff on, then use your browsing habits to market their advertising.

    Aside from slowing your machine down, little of it is harmful. But there are some that are very harmful, nearly like a virus. And often, these too come from so-called reputable sites.

    Anyone who is having a big problem with these sorts of things, I highly recommend Norton Internet Security, OR Norton 360. They automatically update every few days for viruses and spyware, and I’ve not had a single one get a foothold since I started using it.

    And no, I do not work for Symantec. Just a very satisfied customer.

  2. GoneFishin 08/09/2010 at 12:26 PM #

    I run Mac and Linux. No issues…

  3. hoop 08/09/2010 at 2:57 PM #

    Unless it has recently changed, Norton completely blows. Hogs up incredible amounts of resources, slowing down your machine worse than these ‘viruses’ and causes BSOD on various PCs. My parents had two PCs for which it caused a conflict resulting in BSOD. Removed Norton, installed McAfee, no problems.

    OTOH, use Mac or Linux, no problems.

  4. primacyone 08/09/2010 at 3:14 PM #

    This serves as a nice reminder to me. I’ve have meant ask SFN whom is responsible for hte banner ads here. I’ve noticed that ad for some sites I have visted outside of SFN have shown up in the banner above.

    In other words, once I go to that busienss’s main site, their ads then follow me around. I like that, and would like to have my company’s ads do the same thing. Would you know of an online ad company/program that can make that happen?

  5. LKNpackfan 08/09/2010 at 3:18 PM #

    ^SFN ads are served by Google Adwords, which works this way. Just, um, ‘google’ it to read all about it.

  6. gcpack 08/09/2010 at 4:18 PM #

    Well I think I have may have received one when I was linked to a Scout story. It is nearly like a virus and my home office’s IT people have tried everything to get rid of it with no luck. I am faced with having the home office people re-image the hard drive which is a pain in the you know what. I have to reload everything accumulated over two years.

    It shows up in the registry as a Rundll32.exe with ID: “yaxyaa.dll”.

    SO, if any of you techies know anything about that name above & how to get rid of it please let me know.

    Thanks so much,
    GC
    [email protected]

  7. El Scrotcho 08/09/2010 at 4:28 PM #

    Oftentimes the first bit of malware opens a backdoor, through which the rest of your problems will flow, even if you don’t visit the infected sites anymore. Sounds like what the first commenter is experiencing. It’s why a clean format is about the only way to make sure.

  8. StateFans 08/09/2010 at 5:39 PM #

    SFN used to use Google Adwords. For the time being we are a part of “FSV Network” – ‘Fantasy Sports Ventures’.

  9. StateFans 08/09/2010 at 5:48 PM #

    FWIW — At the time being, we do not get any extra benefit if you click on the ads. We generate our revenue to support the site simply through ‘impressions’/’pageviews’. We often get asked how readers can support us — taking the time to refreshing your page does more than clicking on the ads.

  10. LKNpackfan 08/09/2010 at 9:00 PM #

    ^good info. That creates the right incentive, which is the way it should be, IMO.

Leave a Reply