Spotify Free (ads) causes browser to launch on malware / virus websites

[Batu69]

There's something pretty alarming going on right now with Spotify Free. This started a several hours ago. If you have Spotify Free open, it will launch - and keep on launching - the default internet browser on the computer to different kinds of malware / virus sites. Some of them do not even require user action to be able to cause harm.

 

I have 3 different systems (computers) which are all clean and they are all doing this, all via Spotify - I am thinking it's the Ads in Spotify Free. I hope this has been noticed and Spotify staff are fixing it - fast. But it's still puzzling something like this can actually happen.

 

From what I have read so far I have understood this issue has been happening with Spotify Free before. Nevertheless, it's really dangerous for users and amazing how it has not been fixed. These malware launches probably happen during showing certain ads but malware / virus sites have nothing to do with the advertisers. Tells how big of a problem it seems to be (hacked server, spotify admin accounts etc)...

 

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Read article Spotify Free opens web browser ads

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Free listeners got much more than they were bargaining for.

Some Spotify listeners got more than just free music with their ad-supported software. Multiple users report that the streaming service was serving malware-laden ads that would pop up your default web browser in a bid to compromise your system. Reportedly, some of these didn't even require your input to do damage. And they weren't specific to any one platform, either -- Linux, Mac and Windows users all saw the same behavior, although it's not clear that the hostile code could damage all three platforms.

 

In response, Spotify tells us that this was the result of an "isolated issue" with an ad, and that it has since "shut it down." Only a "small number of users" ran into the malware, it says. You can read the full statement below. With that said, it's bound to be slightly embarrassing when the company ran into a similar issue in 2011. It's also a reminder of one of the smaller perks of paying for a subscription service: when you don't get ads in the first place, you're not at risk of receiving rogue ads.

"A small number of users have experienced a problem with questionable website pop ups in their default browsers as a result of an isolated issue with an ad on our free tier. We have now identified the source of the problem and have shut it down. We will continue to monitor the situation."

PSA: uninstall Spotify free, their ads are plagued with malware right now. pic.twitter.com/DUOqDrnDUZ

— Volp (@VolpRS) October 5, 2016

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