Malware discovered on Cracked.com
Posted by: Timothy Tibbetts on 11/15/2013 08:15 AM
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Barracuda Networks spotted a drive-by download that was on cracked.com, oddly enough, infecting users with Spyware.Zbot.ED.
That said- it’s a bad day - or future for cracked, depending on whom you ask.
According to Barracuda:
“It seems as though the site being compromised and serving malware has been a reoccurring problem with cracked.com. Each with somewhat lax approach “Yeah we stopped getting complaints about it and Google took us off the malware warning list or whatever was triggering it. Is anybody else getting it again?” on their forums. This combined with not alerting their site visitors that know what has happened and remediation steps that they can take to cleanup their systems tends to indicate that cracked.com should be avoided if you’re concerned with malware.”
Malwarebytes says:
“Thankfully Google flagged the website, likely saving thousands of visitors from a potential infection. Cracked.com currently appears safe, but site visitors may want to exercise caution if security does not improve.”
So we assume it’s all good now but it should be noted this can, and does, happen to any popular website at any given time. Always have good antivirus installed, a good malware scanner on the side and you can consider removing Java if you find you don’t need it.
A lot of drive-by problems come back to Java. Typically outdated versions of Java are targeted so you want to be sure you do not have multiple installations of Java installed. It happens and Oracle should take responsibility for that. But they don’t, so it’s on you. We suggest downloading JavaRa from Majorgeeks and use it to either remove old versions and or remove Java completely. The tool is self explanatory and easy to use.
Update: People asked, so here you go. Think you were hacked? Then try one of these FREE programs to scan your computer:
IObit Malware Fighter 2.2.0.16
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware 1.75.0.1300 Final
That said- it’s a bad day - or future for cracked, depending on whom you ask.
According to Barracuda:
“It seems as though the site being compromised and serving malware has been a reoccurring problem with cracked.com. Each with somewhat lax approach “Yeah we stopped getting complaints about it and Google took us off the malware warning list or whatever was triggering it. Is anybody else getting it again?” on their forums. This combined with not alerting their site visitors that know what has happened and remediation steps that they can take to cleanup their systems tends to indicate that cracked.com should be avoided if you’re concerned with malware.”
Malwarebytes says:
“Thankfully Google flagged the website, likely saving thousands of visitors from a potential infection. Cracked.com currently appears safe, but site visitors may want to exercise caution if security does not improve.”
So we assume it’s all good now but it should be noted this can, and does, happen to any popular website at any given time. Always have good antivirus installed, a good malware scanner on the side and you can consider removing Java if you find you don’t need it.
A lot of drive-by problems come back to Java. Typically outdated versions of Java are targeted so you want to be sure you do not have multiple installations of Java installed. It happens and Oracle should take responsibility for that. But they don’t, so it’s on you. We suggest downloading JavaRa from Majorgeeks and use it to either remove old versions and or remove Java completely. The tool is self explanatory and easy to use.
Update: People asked, so here you go. Think you were hacked? Then try one of these FREE programs to scan your computer:
IObit Malware Fighter 2.2.0.16
Malwarebytes Anti-Malware 1.75.0.1300 Final
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