Redirected to a reported Web Forgery page

[JimMcClain]

I received a thread subscription notification email and clicked the link to visit the first new post in that thread. As soon as the page loaded in my Firefox browser, another tab opened and attempted to take me to another website. This is usually the default behavior when, 1. you click a link in a vBulletin post, or 2. the webmaster has added the target="_blank" or target="_new" attribute to links via template edits, or 3. when attributes are hard-coded into the software. But I have also discovered, as a webmaster myself, that this behavior can be the result of a malicious ad that has been served by the ad delivery system.

I didn't click anything on the TPF page to visit any links or ads.

I don't know what caused it in this case. I searched the source code for the page and found nothing unusual. I hope that the forum administrators can look into it and that any other members of TPF that have experienced this recently will share what information they can. Below is a screenshot I took of the FF warning. The address of the page I was redirected to is in the address bar of the screenshot.



Jim
PS: admin, please allow uploading GIF images for this forum to save space.

 

[JimMcClain]

I'm surprised there have been no replies to this, especially by staff. It happened again, moments ago. See the screeshots below. The web address I was redirected to is different, but I believe the ad that has caused this is the one that has the words "FANSOCIALCLUB TOP BRANDS OFFERS REGISTER NOW!" I am sure this 728x90 ad (located in the ad_global_below_navbar template) was on the page when I first experienced this problem. The ad appears again in a 300x250 format near the bottom of the page, in the Ads module below the next/previous links (SHOWTHREAD template). Most ads (except videos) will reveal an address in the lower-left corner of the browser when you hover over the ad. These do not.

I visit dozens of different websites every day and navigate to many different pages on those sites. I have only experienced this problem on TPF. I'm using the latest version of Firefox on Windows 7 Pro. Security is very important to me, so I check my system regularly and often for viruses and other malicious software. I also manage a number of websites on 2 servers and understand how difficult a problem like this can be to track down. I would feel better knowing TPF administration is working on the problem.

Thanks,

Jim

 

[KmH]

Get an Ad Blocker extension for your browser.

 

[JimMcClain]

Absolutely not. That is not how I support websites I like and it still leaves the problem for those who don't use ad blocking software and are vulnerable to this kind of exploit. The ads on TPF are not intrusive and there just aren't that many of them. They in no way inhibit my enjoyment of the site. My opinion is, if you visit sites that are so abusive and offensive in their ad content, then you should stop visiting those sites.

Jim

 

[sm4him]

Wish I could help, but I have not had any problems of this sort on TPF.
I don't use ad blockers--and I've never seen that particular ad come up on my screen here.

 

[OSOKILL]

Sorry I didnt see this before now we will look into it =]]

 

[astroNikon]

The ads that popup for me are places I've visited before. So alot of KEH, camera stuff and firetruck stuff. Those tracking cookies ...

 

[dascrow]

That advertiser was blocked yesterday. We don't allow any type of advertising that redirects from this site. Sorry for the inconvenience.

I've also enabled .gifs, .pngs, .pdfs for attachments.

 

[waday]

This is good to know! It happened to me, as well, a few days ago.

 

[JimMcClain]

That advertiser was blocked yesterday. We don't allow any type of advertising that redirects from this site. Sorry for the inconvenience.

I've also enabled .gifs, .pngs, .pdfs for attachments.

Thank you for all of this.

Jim

 

[407370]

That advertiser was blocked yesterday. We don't allow any type of advertising that redirects from this site. Sorry for the inconvenience.

I've also enabled .gifs, .pngs, .pdfs for attachments.

just testing GIF'S



And PNG

THANKS