MSI Afterburner Laced with Malware Circulating in the Wild

[Hattu]

That is an education thing. People in the know need to be teaching people not in the know so that they DON'T click on everything that is displayed to them. However, your point is a perfect example of why we need tools like ad blockers, java-script mangers, cookie & ltso managers and other such security tools.

Teaching everyone we know the basics of a secure computing ethic is very important. Actively blocking any avenue of entry for those malicious in intent is also very important.

Yes. We must educate others. Some of them take that information and use it, some of them lack even the basics or are in some other way incapable.

I installed ad-blockers and other stuff to my mom's laptop and gave her lessons about basic security. And that's why I get those calls, when something is not the way it used to be.

 

[Night]

How come such ads are still visable, not deleted? I'd sue Google if I was naive enough to download from such sites.

 

[TechLurker]

In terms of maliciousness, this is clever, as people with high-end rigs would likely be the ones to download Afterburner and then try using it to tune their GPUs, and said rigs are ideal drone miners when pooled together.

 

[Mussels]

Honestly, if you search for afterburner on bing you get an entire screenful of malware results and have for years

it definitely got worse during the mining craze, and i checked today and noticed bing has now forced the legit listing to the top result - it was a paid ad just 48 hours ago, as i downloaded it to my ITX rig when I was setting up the new AC cooling loop in my system

 

[MarsM4N]

Pretty deceptive headline. I've seen over the time loads of faked websites for "laced" software, esp. some popular. The problem is not MSI Afterburner, but Google's lack of background checks of who buys their add space (aka. "Malvertising"). And this doens't even include the search results for regular manipulated search results that bring up hacked & faked websites ("Gootloader"), which not even a AddBlocker can shield you from.

Here's something to read for those who want to dive a bit more into the topic:

Google ads lead to major malvertising campaign

Scammers go mainstream by hijacking top Google searches and replacing them with malicious ads.

www.malwarebytes.com

The first Google search result often leads to a virus @AskWoody

On top of that Google is manipulating search results for big business, outside interest groups and governments around the globe. It's now all falling on their feet.
How Google Interferes With Its Search Algorithms and Changes Your Results

 

[lexluthermiester]

The problem is not MSI Afterburner, but Google's lack of background checks of who buys their add space (aka. "Malvertising").

It not just Google and it's not that simple. Most bad ads come through legit advertising companies who are themselves being defrauded. It's very common.