All the Malware That’s Fit to Post

Even the old gray lady of journalism, The New York Times, isn’t immune from malware. NYTimes.com was a victim this past weekend, AllThingsD pointed out.

According to AllThingsD, the site was likely hijacked by a malware scammer trying to bait users into installing fake anti-virus software. To its credit, the Times quickly posted a warning on its site.

MediaMemo reader Tim Minter told AllThingsD:

The ad hijacked my computer. Say I’m reading an article (the Clean Water Act was the one that caught me). It then redirects my browser involuntarily to sex-and-the-city.cn. That site then redirects to the ad I screen-captured. At no time did I click anything. That’s what is so nefarious about this malware. Thankfully, since I run OS X, I knew immediately it was malware (seeing Windows XP on a Mac where that’s not installed is suspicious).

The warning from the Times:

Some NYTimes.com readers have seen a pop-up box warning them about a virus and directing them to a site that claims to offer antivirus software. We believe this was generated by an unauthorized advertisement and are working to prevent the problem from recurring. If you see such a warning, we suggest that you not click on it. Instead, quit and restart your Web browser. Questions and comments can be sent to webeditor@nytimes.com.

Join Baratunde Thurston (left), The Onion’s Director of Digital and author of How to Be Black, for an entertaining look at creative social media campaigns in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. Other speakers include Morin Oluwole (Facebook), Tim Devane (bitly), and SocialTimes' writer Devon Glenn.   Register now.