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The FBI now recommends using an ad blocker when searching the web

standard.co.uk

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Re: The FBI now recommends using an ad blocker when searching the web

#281

Post by tombrossman »

emacdona wrote: post #248
panarky wrote: post #240

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Do you use a password manager? Do you visit websites for banks or brokerage firms? If so, how do you ensure that none of these plugins and extensions steal your data?

Heh, you got me. A password manager is the ONE plugin I have installed in my profile that I use to access my banks. Simply put, I trust the password manager. Recently, however, I have considered uninstalling that plugin and using only the desktop version of the password manager -- and then copy/pasting username/pw from the password manager to websites. One reason I don't do that, though... is because having the passw…

In Firefox you can change the "network.IDN_show_punycode" value to true, and you will no longer see lookalike UDN domains. It's a good point about using a browser password manager though, since they won't function on a lookalike domain and that should force you to stop and reassess, at which time you (hopefully) notice the scam.

Re: The FBI now recommends using an ad blocker when searching the web

#282

Post by Zurrrrr »

bee_rider wrote: post #261
Zurrrrr wrote: post #241

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Safari is real. People mean Chrome or Firefox on iOS are not real because they are just skins for Safari.

> Since *iOS doesn't allow real browsers* and extensions, Brave has been a sanity-saver for me. I mean, the comment is pretty straightforward, I don’t really see the need to come to this person’s defense. I agree that the iOS policy is dumb, but deliberately misinterpreting this person to make them correct is silly.

That's what I get for replying to replies out of context and going by memory. Oh well.

Re: The FBI now recommends using an ad blocker when searching the web

#283

Post by ddeck »

int_19h wrote: post #158
buildbot wrote: post #68

Earlier quoted context omitted.

International domain name - blocking them prevents look alike URLs from working. But also, IMO, this is bad advice for anyone who uses not English as a language...

If there's any non-English-speaking culture that embraced IDNs, I'd love to hear it. E.g. in my experience as a Russian speaker, Cyrillic very rarely shows up in domain names for legitimate websites, and correlates strongly with malware.

The numbers agree. Only 69 Cyrillic domains (second-level) registered last year.

Chinese is the most popular, but only 760 for 2022 and the aggregate trend is down:

2016: 2378

2018: 2252

2020: 1675

2022: 1518

Internationalized Domain Name (IDN) Annual Report 2022

[1] https://www.icann.org/en/system/files/files/idn-annual-repor...

Re: The FBI now recommends using an ad blocker when searching the web

#284

Post by aitchnyu »

Animats wrote: post #48

Make ad brokers share responsibility for losses due to scam ads. If the ad broker is unable to clearly identify the advertiser for lawsuit purposes, the ad broker should face consequences. They're assisting the criminal by helping them hide.

The same should be conveyed to the user too. Ads should have a landing page that tries to inform kids and computer haters about ads and about the company and product and what changes it makes to your PC and charges it makes to your bank.

No "let Onedrive cloud your photos" in my gallery app, no "keep using Edge" when downloading Chrome, no recommended apps on my Samsung phone.

Re: The FBI now recommends using an ad blocker when searching the web

#285

Post by webmobdev »

panarky wrote: post #240
emacdona wrote: post #203

I recommend using an ad-blocker while visiting that site :-/ Lately, I find myself using more and more plugins to make the "modern web" tolerable. To list a few: Channel Blocker (lets me block channels from search results on Youtube); uBlock Origin; Disconnect; F.B Purity; Consent-O-Matic (auto fill cookie consent forms); Kagi Search; PopUpOFF; Facebook Container; Privacy Badger; ClearURLs; Return YouTube Dislike Bas…

Do you use a password manager? Do you visit websites for banks or brokerage firms? If so, how do you ensure that none of these plugins and extensions steal your data?

Not OP. My solution is to use a different browser in private browsing mode. Both Windows and macOS now come with a default browser pre-installed. I use that for any financial transactions - banking, paying bills, shopping etc. I totally avoid password managers. Using phrases is a simple way to create strong and easy to remember passwords. Eg. "This is a Good Password for #2013!".

Re: The FBI now recommends using an ad blocker when searching the web

#287

Post by Nemo_bis »

ravenstine wrote: post #235

Why should we take advice from the FBI?

I don't, but Google is presumably not pleased to hear the FBI say "Cyber criminals purchase advertisements that appear within internet search results". https://www.ic3.gov/Media/Y2022/PSA221221

The FTC, other regulators or courts in the countless cases against Google may also use such a statement as validation that fraud is rampant.

Re: The FBI now recommends using an ad blocker when searching the web

#289

Post by sbuk »

rrrrrrrrrrrryan wrote: post #140
paxys wrote: post #135

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What system level adblocker works on iOS?

Not sure - I haven't owned an Apple device since an iPod circa 2007. Do iPhones still really not have a way to block in-app ads?

https://1blocker.com/ Is a system wide ad blocker. It’s not uBlock Origin in terms of coverage, but extremely close and it work on all apps.

Re: The FBI now recommends using an ad blocker when searching the web

#290

Post by Zizizizz »

prima-facie wrote: post #79
staringback wrote: post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

DNS adblocking isn't even remotely comparable to ublock origin

Can you please elaborate on this? thanks

So for example YouTube serves their own ads so you can't skip YouTube ads with a DNS level adblock you need ublock origin which can block anything referenced in HTML which is why it works for skipping ads on YouTube.
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