Pajamas Media Ad Advisory: If The Site Is Showing Naughty Pictures, You Have Malware

I just got this notification from PJM. Not sure you morons would even have noticed, but if you have seen off-color ads, it's not actually PJM. It's malware on your computer infecting the ads displayed to make them show what the malware wants to show.

Just wanted to give you a heads up on a problem some users have experienced and what we're doing about it.

Recently, some users complained about explicit ads that seemed to only show at night. These ads were also seen on non-PJM sites such as Powerline, LA Times and Sitemeter.

The good news is that the ads are not coming in through one of our ad networks. Apparently, Doubleclick ad tags have been the target of "Malware," which can hijack the ad display. In order to get the bad ads, a user’s computer has to be previously infected with the Malware (not obtained through Pajamas Media).

Unfortunately, this is a problem for those users whose computers are infected with a specific Malware program who visit ANY site with Doubleclick ad tags. At this time, we don’t know the full details of the Malware but we’ve been told it can be removed using Ad-Aware.

If you are experiencing this problem, you should download and run the Ad-Aware free product:

http://www.lavasoftusa.com/products/ad_aware_free.php

As we continue to research the issue and find new information, we will pass it on to you.

I hope that hasn't happened to anyone. But if you've got malware, and even if you don't, running that AdAware program is helpful.

posted by Ace at 10:25 PM

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