sloshnmosh

Just say No to push notifications!

There is a huge problem with spammy push notifications that trick users into accepting push notifications by using fake media players and fake CAPTHAs that if accepted will push all manner of SPAM on victims devices that say they have multiple viruses that pull up Google play store app to some bogus Cleaner/antivirus apps.

The push notifications are hosted on Cloudfront using AdMaven and AdFly and AppNexxus.

I have been trying to report these criminals for a couple of years now with no luck.

Cloudfront refuses to take down the script that AdMaven uses and AdMaven, AdFly, AppNexxus and Proppelerads all ignore multiple attempts to contact.

Have you gone to the VA?

I know our local Vetrans hospital has a small sleep study room for diagnosis and will supply CPAP to those in need.

Walgreens has always tried to harvest every single penny they could squeeze from their customers, mainly by selling the customers PII to anyone and everyone, so this is no big surprise to me.

It reminds me of the obnoxious talking gas pumps that play ads while you’re filling your car.

At first there used to be a “mute” button to where you could silence the crap and all the plastic was worn away from everyone mashing it trying to shut it up.

Now I no longer see any option to mute the ads.

I hate ads with a passion and won’t allow them to run on my devices. Mainly for security and privacy but the aggravation they cause is palpable.

Whenever I work on someone else’s computer and open a web browser I am in shock that people can even concentrate with all the garbage on the screen.

I heard that ads were able to circumvent DNS by using canonical names.

But uBlock origin and PiHole both do CNAME inspection to block this.

Is there other ways that ads are circumventing DNS ad-blockers such as PiHole?

I came here to say the same. I even purchased a LAN throwing star to look to see if my Asus router was sending anything to TrendMicro but never did get around to it.

But I will now for sure.

Google is complicit in this by their refusal to ban larger app developers that create malicious apps. Google may kick the malicious app off the play store for a couple weeks and make the developer remove the malware (or obfuscate it better) but then allows the app(s) back to the play store.

The software being used to push this malware is from Propeller ads and more recently AdMaven but is protected by Russian DDoS services.

Be VERY careful on accepting push notifications!

There is a huge malvertising campaign targeting mobile users (especially Android) that tricks users into accepting push notifications with fake CAPTCHAs or fake media player buttons that push malicious ads and mobile malware and can even lead to botnet activity.

The risk versus value is too high.

Hmmm. My tinfoil hat tells me that Comcast may be doing this to tie users Twitter accounts to their real names and addresses.

Excellent article!

What’s also very interesting is that the article links to page from TrendMicro about malicious Android apps using Java’s version of SSH to infiltrate internal corporate networks.

TrendMicro’s own Android app ALSO contained the same Java SSH sdk.

I was hoping this was an article about packing different executables into images like I saw on Twitter.

+1 for the zerohedge comment.

A few months ago something happened over at Zerohedge.. The site became unviewable with JavaScript disabled so I stopped going to the site. But it looks like they’ve had a change of heart and can now be viewed with JavaScript disabled.

But it also seems like the content has changed from what it used to be.

Did they change ownership or is it just my imagination from taking a break from their site when it became dependent upon JavaScript?

Fun fact..

The first 4 smartphones I ever owned all came with preinstalled malware or malware was added after a “security update”

One of the people I follow on Twitter collects old electronics and I’ve seen him do some pretty interesting hacks to boot his vintage devices without using the long-dead original battery. I’ve seen him use 2 different rechargeable battery packs used for development boards attached to the battery terminals of an older laptop and even seen him using a screwdriver tip with leads attached to fit inside the female power port of an older device.

I don’t know his exact Twitter handle but you can find him under “foone”