Online ad giant Adform was hacked, proving once again why ad blockers are needed(this.weekinsecurity.com)
237 points by speckx 21 hours ago | 97 comments
tl;dr: Adform, an ad network serving 1.5 billion daily ads, was compromised on July 27 when attackers injected malicious code into its ad delivery, replacing crypto wallet addresses in victims' clipboards every three seconds to redirect transfers to the attacker. The company disclosed the breach but hasn't revealed how it was compromised or how many users were affected, and is still investigating whether browsing data was exfiltrated. Ad blockers like uBlock Origin blocked Adform's domain entirely, preventing the malicious payload from loading.
HN Discussion:
  • Ad blockers are essential; browsing without one is dangerous due to malware risks
  • Ads themselves are essentially malware, so this incident is unsurprising
  • DNS-level blocking should be used broadly, especially for non-technical users and mobile devices
  • ~Internet advertising needs regulation, not just ad blockers
  • Technical curiosity about tracking the stolen crypto on the blockchain