Exclusive: Websites like DRUDGE Can Spread VIRUSES, ‘Non-Partisan’ Techie Warned Senate

[Segami]

DUers BEWARE!



" The Senate's environment committee has warned Capitol Hill staffers to avoid the Drudge Report and some other sites over suspicions of viruses, a spokesperson for the committee confirmed to Raw Story Tuesday.



The Drudge Report denied the allegations and mocked the committee in a prominently-featured story, but a CNET report on Tuesday notes that readers have complained about suspicious malware on the site today.



According to Drudge, "The Senate's Committee on Environment and Public Works issued an urgent email late Monday claiming the DRUDGE REPORT is 'responsible for the many viruses popping up throughout the Senate.'" The article said, "The committee ordered hill staff: 'Try to avoid' the DRUDGE REPORT 'for now'."



The EPW spokesperson, who wished to remain anonymous, told Raw Story that Drudge was one of several Web sites flagged by the committee's non-partisan tech experts as containing "virus infections" and "pop-up ads."



"The Senate Help Desk, in discussing a recent increase in the number of virus infections in Senate computers, mentioned that it might be associated with pop-up ads appearing through certain websites, and they cited DrudgeReport.com and WhitePages.com as possible examples," said the spokesperson.



CNET on Tuesday substantiated the committee's concerns, noting they had received complaints from the Drudge readers about unseemly activities and viruses on the site. Elinor Mills reports:


For the second time in less than six months, visitors to the Drudge Report say they got malware in addition to the Web site's usual sensational headlines.


"I can personally vouch for disinfecting my mom's desktop yesterday after visiting this Web page, even taking a screenshot after beginning remedial steps to address the attempted infection," a CNET reader wrote in an e-mail early on Tuesday. "I'm an IT professional in South Carolina so I know and understand the technology involved."


The screenshot the reader provided to CNET shows a pop-up warning the viewer that the system is infected with malware and looks like a typical fake antivirus warning that criminals use to scare people into paying for software they don't need.


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http://rawstory.com/2010/03/drudge-claims-senate-committee-warned-hill-staffers-avoid/

[nadinbrzezinski]

1. Oh anybody who goes to Drugdge

knows they'd either do it on Linux, or MAC... my Win Machine don't go there EVEN with protection. That's been the policy for years, and that is the reason.

[MineralMan]

2. Happened to me once on Drudge. I never went back.

Most likely this crap is hooked onto an ad Drudge displays automatically. Lots of that going on, but Drudge has to make money from his cesspit.

[Warpy]

3. I know there's been an increase in nasties trying to hack my machine

over the past four days. It's not inconceivable they've been successful at some websites.

Drudge won't catch a clue unless they hack his main page.

[xultar]

4. Links to drudge should be banned on DU.

[hlthe2b]

5. Drudge IS a virus...

[upi402]

6. Hope the IT whistleblowers don't fly in small planes:

http://www.maxim.com/humor/stupid-fun/86265/mysterious-death-bushs-cyber-guru.html

The Mysterious Death of Bush's Cyber-Guru
Posted Wednesday 02/10/2010 1:00 PM in Stupid Fun by Simon Worrall
Filed under: cyber guru, michael connell, death of bushs cyber guru

The crash would have remained a private tragedy confined to the pages of the local press and the hearts of the pilot’s widow and four children, but within days the blogosphere was abuzz with rumors and conspiracy theories: The plane, it was said, had been sabotaged and the pilot murdered to cover up the GOP’s alleged theft of the Ohio vote in the 2004 presidential election. At the center of this plot was the Saratoga’s pilot, a prodigiously gifted IT expert named Michael Connell, whose altar boy charm and technical brilliance had made him the computer whiz of choice for the Republican Party. Left-wing Web sites openly referred to Connell as “Bush’s vote rigger” and claimed that his fingerprints were on all the most controversial elections in recent history. There were dark whispers of electronic pulses or sniper fire being used to bring down the plane—a black ops attack designed to keep him from testifying against his former cronies. Right-wing bloggers and talk show hosts derided such claims as the twisted delusions of liberal nut jobs and tinfoil hatters. The mainstream press sat on its hands.