If you clicked on a Google Adsense advertisement and strangely landed on a site that promotes Viagra, gambling, or pornography, chances are you have been infected by a trojan that targets Google Adsense ads.
Anti-virus software company Trend Micro reported that a Trojan called TROJ_QHOST.GC has managed to hijack Google’s text advertisements which prevents users from connecting to page2.googlesyndication.co which is the server that directs to Adsense advertisements.
When installed, the trojan points a user’s browser to another IP address that “functions as a rouge server to third party advertisements about gambling and pornography.”
To avoid having the trojan infect your computer, refrain from downloading or installing any file sent by an unknown sender.
Trojans, as well as viruses, are also easily transferred via peer-to-peer networks (such as BitTorrent, etc.) so make sure that you scan your PC every time you connect to those systems.
If you clicked on a Google Adsense advertisement and strangely landed on a site that promotes Viagra, gambling, or pornography, chances are you have been infected by a trojan that targets Google Adsense ads.
Anti-virus software company Trend Micro reported that a Trojan called TROJ_QHOST.GC has managed to hijack Google’s text advertisements which prevents users from connecting to page2.googlesyndication.co which is the server that directs to Adsense advertisements.
When installed, the trojan points a user’s browser to another IP address that “functions as a rouge server to third party advertisements about gambling and pornography.”
To avoid having the trojan infect your computer, refrain from downloading or installing any file sent by an unknown sender.
Trojans, as well as viruses, are also easily transferred via peer-to-peer networks (such as BitTorrent, etc.) so make sure that you scan your PC every time you connect to those systems.
If you clicked on a Google Adsense advertisement and strangely landed on a site that promotes Viagra, gambling, or pornography, chances are you have been infected by a trojan that targets Google Adsense ads.
Anti-virus software company Trend Micro reported that a Trojan called TROJ_QHOST.GC has managed to hijack Google’s text advertisements which prevents users from connecting to page2.googlesyndication.co which is the server that directs to Adsense advertisements.
When installed, the trojan points a user’s browser to another IP address that “functions as a rouge server to third party advertisements about gambling and pornography.”
To avoid having the trojan infect your computer, refrain from downloading or installing any file sent by an unknown sender.
Trojans, as well as viruses, are also easily transferred via peer-to-peer networks (such as BitTorrent, etc.) so make sure that you scan your PC every time you connect to those systems.
If you clicked on a Google Adsense advertisement and strangely landed on a site that promotes Viagra, gambling, or pornography, chances are you have been infected by a trojan that targets Google Adsense ads.
Anti-virus software company Trend Micro reported that a Trojan called TROJ_QHOST.GC has managed to hijack Google’s text advertisements which prevents users from connecting to page2.googlesyndication.co which is the server that directs to Adsense advertisements.
When installed, the trojan points a user’s browser to another IP address that “functions as a rouge server to third party advertisements about gambling and pornography.”
To avoid having the trojan infect your computer, refrain from downloading or installing any file sent by an unknown sender.
Trojans, as well as viruses, are also easily transferred via peer-to-peer networks (such as BitTorrent, etc.) so make sure that you scan your PC every time you connect to those systems.
If you clicked on a Google Adsense advertisement and strangely landed on a site that promotes Viagra, gambling, or pornography, chances are you have been infected by a trojan that targets Google Adsense ads.
Anti-virus software company Trend Micro reported that a Trojan called TROJ_QHOST.GC has managed to hijack Google’s text advertisements which prevents users from connecting to page2.googlesyndication.co which is the server that directs to Adsense advertisements.
When installed, the trojan points a user’s browser to another IP address that “functions as a rouge server to third party advertisements about gambling and pornography.”
To avoid having the trojan infect your computer, refrain from downloading or installing any file sent by an unknown sender.
Trojans, as well as viruses, are also easily transferred via peer-to-peer networks (such as BitTorrent, etc.) so make sure that you scan your PC every time you connect to those systems.
Apparently, this was not the first time a trojan hit Google Adsense. In December 2005, TechShout reported that users infected with the same trojan saw adult- or gambling-related advertisements that looked exactly like Adsense ad units (see screenshot).
The program is engineered to produce fake Google ads that are formatted to look like legitimate ones. The ads are incorporated in Google AdSense [and the] Trojan Horse apparently downloads itself onto an unsuspecting computer through a web page and then replaces the original ads with its own set of malicious ads.
A Christmas attack on Google Adsense? Maybe.
But more than that, this is actually an attack on site owners and publishers whose Adsense income will be negatively affected because they will earn nothing from the fake Google ads.
Definitely not a jolly Christmas for publishers whose Adsense earnings is already falling because of recent changes in Google Adsense’s policies.
Apparently, this was not the first time a trojan hit Google Adsense. In December 2005, TechShout reported that users infected with the same trojan saw adult- or gambling-related advertisements that looked exactly like Adsense ad units (see screenshot).
The program is engineered to produce fake Google ads that are formatted to look like legitimate ones. The ads are incorporated in Google AdSense [and the] Trojan Horse apparently downloads itself onto an unsuspecting computer through a web page and then replaces the original ads with its own set of malicious ads.
A Christmas attack on Google Adsense? Maybe.
But more than that, this is actually an attack on site owners and publishers whose Adsense income will be negatively affected because they will earn nothing from the fake Google ads.
Definitely not a jolly Christmas for publishers whose Adsense earnings is already falling because of recent changes in Google Adsense’s policies.Apparently, this was not the first time a trojan hit Google Adsense. In December 2005, TechShout reported that users infected with the same trojan saw adult- or gambling-related advertisements that looked exactly like Adsense ad units (see screenshot).
The program is engineered to produce fake Google ads that are formatted to look like legitimate ones. The ads are incorporated in Google AdSense [and the] Trojan Horse apparently downloads itself onto an unsuspecting computer through a web page and then replaces the original ads with its own set of malicious ads.
A Christmas attack on Google Adsense? Maybe.
But more than that, this is actually an attack on site owners and publishers whose Adsense income will be negatively affected because they will earn nothing from the fake Google ads.
Definitely not a jolly Christmas for publishers whose Adsense earnings is already falling because of recent changes in Google Adsense’s policies.
Apparently, this was not the first time a trojan hit Google Adsense. In December 2005, TechShout reported that users infected with the same trojan saw adult- or gambling-related advertisements that looked exactly like Adsense ad units (see screenshot).
The program is engineered to produce fake Google ads that are formatted to look like legitimate ones. The ads are incorporated in Google AdSense [and the] Trojan Horse apparently downloads itself onto an unsuspecting computer through a web page and then replaces the original ads with its own set of malicious ads.
A Christmas attack on Google Adsense? Maybe.
But more than that, this is actually an attack on site owners and publishers whose Adsense income will be negatively affected because they will earn nothing from the fake Google ads.
Definitely not a jolly Christmas for publishers whose Adsense earnings is already falling because of recent changes in Google Adsense’s policies.
Apparently, this was not the first time a trojan hit Google Adsense. In December 2005, TechShout reported that users infected with the same trojan saw adult- or gambling-related advertisements that looked exactly like Adsense ad units (see screenshot).
The program is engineered to produce fake Google ads that are formatted to look like legitimate ones. The ads are incorporated in Google AdSense [and the] Trojan Horse apparently downloads itself onto an unsuspecting computer through a web page and then replaces the original ads with its own set of malicious ads.
A Christmas attack on Google Adsense? Maybe.
But more than that, this is actually an attack on site owners and publishers whose Adsense income will be negatively affected because they will earn nothing from the fake Google ads.
Definitely not a jolly Christmas for publishers whose Adsense earnings is already falling because of recent changes in Google Adsense’s policies.
Thanks for the heads up.
Haven’t encounter this type of trojan and I hope I won’t be hit by this.;)
Merry Christmas, Charles! I too hope I won’t be affected by it and I do wish no one of our readers will be affected as well because otherwise we won’t earn anything if they clicked on the fake Google ads 🙂
so how does this trojan work exactly?
A. if my computer is infected by this, all the google adsense i see from my computer becomes replaced by the illegal ads, correct?
B. if my computer is infected by this, and i upload a a google adsense script on my website, then the illegal ads will appear on my website when it is accessed by any computer?
as far as i know it:
A. Yes, all adsense viewed from your computer will be replaced by malicious ads.. not only on your own site but also other websites that uses google adsense.
B. No, normal google ads will still be seen by other computers, even if your pc is infected and you try to upload adsense codes on your website. The effect is only on your local pc.
Read this article on my experience with it and what Google’s ‘action’ is regarding this trojan.
Hi Fitz, it’s actually more of A. As boddah explained, it affects the local computer which means all Google Adsense ads accessed by the infected PC will have fake ads.
It affects the earnings of the publisher because he/she will not get anything in case the fake ads on his site were clicked by a person with the infected PC.
Really bro. James? I always download from bittorrent some movie clips…
Thanks for the info… I will refrain from downloading from that site…
chow
Hi Juler, well not all torrent files have trojans or viruses, but some of them do. Just make sure your PC is protected and that you scan it for viruses, spyware, adware, etc. every time you use bittorrent.
good thing i haven’t experienced this yet.
so does this trojan affect just your local computer, or does it modify the adsense codes on your webhost?
anyway, two advice regarding torrents:
1) make sure that when you click on it, it has the .torrent extension. That way only your torrent program can open it
2) usually the torrent has a list of files to be downloaded. only download those which you want to.
Based on what other people are reporting, the trojan only affects the local computer. That is, it changes only the Adsense ads seen by the person with an infected PC.
Thanks for the reply guys. It’s unfortunate that Google can’t find a solution to this for now. I hope they resolve this problem soon.
Actually, Google has previously said that they can’t do anything about this problem yet. For now, users just need to be careful not to download and install any trojan or virus in their PC so they won’t be affected by this.
yay! SCARY!