Scam Pop Up on Boards

nullzero · 21-09-2023 9:48am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121137149#Comment_121137149

I think you might be overestimating the scale of boards.ie

This is an annoying thing to deal with without a doubt. It's been happening for less than a day though, give them time to sort it. If it's still happening this time next week I'll join in with the whinging.

21-09-2023 11:08am

Still not getting this at all, iOS Safari, no present ad blocker active, but Norton filtering.

JDxtra · 21-09-2023 11:10am

I get it. Bad things can happen when running services online – but this was a reputation buster for me.

I presume this came from some rogue ad running malicious code. I mean, what else is happening under the hood that normal users don’t see? I just loaded up Boards.ie in browser developer mode – and it’s a bit of an eye opener what is happening.

In my opinion you need the ability to turn off the whole web site in an instant. It’s not acceptable to redirect users to scam web sites for an extended period.

I’m sure many users would have said Boards was hacked (in fairness, it kind of was indirectly). Then you have users’ question the safety of their personal data. Is it even safe to use Boards on my work laptop for example? Or is it now in the same category as trying to stream illegal soccer?

Overall, just not cool. Shouldn’t have happened and recovery / prevention needs to be faster.

Citizenpain · 21-09-2023 11:20am

got this on iphone safari as well

logged out , cleared cookies and history and updated to IOS 17

now it wont let me log in to boards.ie on phone

21-09-2023 11:30am

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121137550#Comment_121137550

You’re right there. Whilst not a direct hacking per se, what is happening comes within the realm of cybersecurity infringements. Delivering malware to end users who permit revenue ads is not on.

21-09-2023 11:40am

https://hackerone.com/vanilla/scope_versions?type=team

One can always participate in Vanilla’s bug bounty program.

StrawbsM · 21-09-2023 12:01pm

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/121137149#Comment_121137149

I know what a 24hr emergency contact means.

I was just pointing out that the issue started when they (Vanilla) were still in normal office hours. I don’t know where in Canada they are based but it would have been 1pm on the west coast when this thread was opened.

Boards.ie: Mike · 21-09-2023 12:11pm

Hi all,

So Snigle has now blocked the domain causing trouble with their pop ups. They have also added additional protection against pop up ads, forceful redirects and malicious ads. All ads will be pre-checked before serving the site, this may cause a very slight latency before serving some ads but it is a good compromise to protect the users here from such ads.

This particular domain was reported to Google yesterday evening also. They had set up this aggressive campaign yesterday.

As always there if anyone spots these type of ads please continue to report them so they can be removed and blocked as soon as possible. Thank you all for keeping an eye out and reporting this.

Mike.