Are you a Spotify user? If so, you may have been infected. Recently, the company reported that one of its advertising partners had displayed an ad containing malware. As with most software of this type, it wrests control of the user’s browser, opening additional tabs on its own, and directing users to web pages loaded with additional malware in hopes of getting someone to install more.
The company became aware of the problem when users started complaining in the company’s forum, and quickly isolated the ad that was causing the problem, shutting it down and cutting the advertiser off. Nonetheless, some users may still be experiencing strange browser behavior.
If you begin noticing unwanted tabs opening up, redirects that take you to sites you don’t recognize or other suspicious behavior, uninstalling and reinstalling Spotify should take care of the problem.
As an added step, you should probably run an antivirus scan and sweep your machine for malware, just to be sure that no traces of the offending software remain.
Companies have gotten pretty good at spotting this type of attack, but sometimes, malicious code still slips through. It happened to both Google and Yahoo last year with similar results. A few users were impacted, and the malicious ad was quickly identified and removed.
This, of course, only serves to highlight the dangers that are ever present in our digital ecosystem. The world’s hackers are relentless. They’re always probing, always searching for an in. If you don’t have robust defenses in place, they’re absolutely going to succeed. Even with state of the art security, you’re not safe, which is the challenge.
If you’re not confident about the current state of your firm’s digital security, contact us today. One of our talented team members will be happy to review your current security and help you craft a better, more robust plan.
