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Security Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Edge Found Serving Malicious Tech Support Scam Ads (neowin.net) 30

AmiMoJo shares a report from Neowin: Anti-malware solutions maker Malwarebytes has recently uncovered a campaign which is serving tech support scams via malicious ads in Microsoft Edge's 'My Feed' section. They provided an image that shows a screenshot of a malvertising campaign where a fake browser locker page is displayed to dupe potential victims. The adware is smart in the way it operates as Malwarebytes has found that the malicious ad banner redirects only potential targets to the tech support scam page. Meanwhile bots, VPNs and geo-locations are shown the actual ad page powered by the Taboola ad network. The firm notes that the differentiation is made with a help of a base64-encoded JavaScript string.

In the span of just 24 hours, Malwarebytes managed to collect over 200 different hostnames. Somewhat unsurprisingly perhaps, one of the associated domains is linked to an individual who appears to be the director of a software company operating in Delhi, India. You can find more details about this malvertising campaign on Malwarebytes' blog post about the topic.

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Microsoft Edge Found Serving Malicious Tech Support Scam Ads

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  • by Slashythenkilly ( 7027842 ) on Saturday September 24, 2022 @10:23AM (#62910401)
    I never had that problem using the Firefox or Brave Brave browsers.
  • by gweihir ( 88907 ) on Saturday September 24, 2022 @10:27AM (#62910407)

    MicroScum is know for greed and incompetence and market dominance. They are not known for caring about their customers.

    • MicroScum is know for greed and incompetence and market dominance. They are not known for caring about their customers.

      Edge is good for two things. Downloading another browser, and I like it for some copy/paste I have to do on pdf's to another program.

      Otherwise, I thought that Edge was malicious stuff all by itself.

      • by quonset ( 4839537 ) on Saturday September 24, 2022 @10:53AM (#62910435)

        Edge is good for two things. Downloading another browser, and I like it for some copy/paste I have to do on pdf's to another program

        Edge can't even download files correctly. I can't count the times I've gone to major sites, including Microsoft itself, where the file never completes downloading. The notice says it's complete, but when you try to open it you get a message about it still downloading. And waiting doesn't resolve the issue.

        Use Firefox and there is no problem. Ever.

        • The faulty Edge file downloader is an attempt to guard against downloading another browser.
        • Edge is good for two things. Downloading another browser, and I like it for some copy/paste I have to do on pdf's to another program

          Edge can't even download files correctly. I can't count the times I've gone to major sites, including Microsoft itself, where the file never completes downloading. The notice says it's complete, but when you try to open it you get a message about it still downloading. And waiting doesn't resolve the issue.

          Use Firefox and there is no problem. Ever.

          Interesting, and I wouldn't be surprised. I haven't had the issue, but I think I've used Edge only once on each Windows computer I've worked with - aside from the pdf use.

        • by antdude ( 79039 )

          Internet Explorer was worse.

          • by gweihir ( 88907 )

            Sure. Of course MS making a browser themselves resulted in the worst outcome. But MS is still quite capable to screw up a Chromium engine.

      • by AmiMoJo ( 196126 )

        I prefer to install Chocolatey from the command line, and then install all other software I need from there.

        • I prefer to install Chocolatey from the command line, and then install all other software I need from there.

          Well, my actual preference is to not use Windows for anything. But there is that one program I use for my work.

      • by gweihir ( 88907 )

        Yes, pretty much.

      • Edge is good for two things. Downloading another browser, and I like it for some copy/paste I have to do on pdf's to another program.

        I have copies of all the latest versions of all the major web browsers saved on an external hard drive. No need for Edge.
        There are much better programs for handling PDFs than Edge.

        EDGE!
        What is it good for!
        Absolutely Nothing!

        • Edge is good for two things. Downloading another browser, and I like it for some copy/paste I have to do on pdf's to another program.

          I have copies of all the latest versions of all the major web browsers saved on an external hard drive. No need for Edge. There are much better programs for handling PDFs than Edge. What I have found to be a problem is that the other programs are either sluggish at it, are a PITA for selecting test, or sometimes like Acrobat, gives you surprise results. What are the specific issues with Edge copy and paste?

    • They are not known for caring about their customers.

      We (the End Users) are not their customers, we're their commodity.

      • by gweihir ( 88907 )

        True for Google. Not (yet) fully true for Microsoft. But they are working hard on getting there.

    • Edge is just slightly modified Chrome. How Microsoft managed to completely fuck it up and make it substantially worse than Chrome is quite an accomplishment.
      • by gweihir ( 88907 )

        Indeed. Making a bad Chromium browser takes real dedication and hard work. I guess MS is just broken on a level so fundamental that they simply cannot produce anything good, except by accident, maybe. Not that this has really ever been different.

  • by Ol Olsoc ( 1175323 ) on Saturday September 24, 2022 @10:34AM (#62910419)
    Shouldn't be much of a problem - this is an edge case.
  • by RUs1729 ( 10049396 ) on Saturday September 24, 2022 @01:24PM (#62910703)
    MS remains the same despicable company that it has been since its inception.
  • This isn't the first time, Google too has been taking advertising money from scammers and malicious people for years (as was reported here I'm sure). Many years ago I had to help piles of seniors who interacted with fake anti-virus notification trojans generated by Microsoft via the MSN home page which they set as default in Internet Explorer. This was never covered in the mainstream news but it was huge.
  • Microsoft is likely hiding user data in its cache for upload.
  • by 0xG ( 712423 )
    I prefer the OEM tech support scams

Marvelous! The super-user's going to boot me! What a finely tuned response to the situation!

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