Anybody else getting "virus attacking" notices when vitising BWW?

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/16/09 at 10:17am

No, I'm not joking.

My PCs are telling me a recent attack was made on my computer. This happens only right after I navigate to BWW.

On my Mac, I get a warning, telling me that a program from the site is "asking for unlimited access to my computer."

WTF?

Access denied, baby.

Anybody else having this issue? It started just yesterday for me.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 10/16/09 at 10:20am

Lately, when I go to post (and it just happened now), I get a pop-up saying that this website's digital signature cannot be verified.

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/16/09 at 10:25am

I got that one once, as well, Millie.

Just got the virus attack notice again when I went to the OT Board. Fortunately the Norton Antivirus is blocking it. But what's going on?

[madbrian]

Posted: 10/16/09 at 10:27am

I got strange stuff on my home computer last night, but nothing on my work PC. Not that I ever go to BWW while at work.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 10/16/09 at 10:27am

I haven't gotten anything like that recently, but there was a time when every time I'd click over here I'd be told there was malware.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 10/16/09 at 10:31am

I just got this...

[doodlenyc]

Posted: 10/16/09 at 10:33am

I think this means that RobbO is back!

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 10/16/09 at 10:38am

Yes, Mister Matt - that is the exact pop-up I get.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/16/09 at 10:46am

I got it too.

And just got it again when I clicked "Reply to this message."

[withoutlovewithoutU]

Posted: 10/16/09 at 10:47am

Best12Bars - I got the same thing on my Mac last night, but now it's not happening.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 10/16/09 at 10:47am

Yes! I got it three times already, but only when I clicked "Reply to this message".

[HollyGolightly2]

Posted: 10/16/09 at 10:50am

Oh wow, I thought it was just my computer freaking out.

And I was about to say I hadn't gotten it today, but lo and behold, it showed up while I was typing this post.

[PalJoey]

Posted: 10/16/09 at 10:52am

just googled www.sparesweb.com anbd this is what I got:

www.sparesweb.com part of the www.sparesweb.com group Acquired by G Bentley ltd. tel : [phone] 9.30am - 8pm mon-friday 9-5 Saturday NEW trade counter

G bentley ltd
71-75 ALLCOCK STREET
DERITEND
BIRMINGHAM
WEST MIDLANDS
B9 4DY
united kingdom

tel : [phone]
fax : [phone]

Electronic mail
[e-mail]
Send mail to [e-mail] with questions or comments about this web site.
Copyright © 2005 Gbentley ltd

We ship direct to

Austria, Belgium, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Ireland, Italy, Latvia, Lithuania, Luxembourg, Malta Netherlands Poland Portugal
Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden

Albania, Algeria, Amer. Virgin Is, Andorra, Angola, Aiguilles, Antigua/Barbuda, Argentina, Armenia, Aruba, Australia, Austria, Azerbaijan, Bahamas Bahrain, Bangladesh, Barbados, Belarus, Belgium, Belize, Benin, Bermuda, Bhutan, Bolivia, Bosnia-Herz, Botswana, Brazil, Brit.Virgin Is Brunei Dar-es-S, Bulgaria, Burkina Faso, Burundi, Cambodia, Cameroon, Canada, Canada, Cape Verde, Cayman Islands, Central African Rep, Chad, Chile, China, Colombia, Congo, Cook Islands, Costa Rica, Croatia, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark Djibouti, Dominica, Dominican Rep Dutch Antilles, Ecuador, Egypt El Salvador Equatorial Guan Eritrea Estonia Ethiopia Faeroe Falkland Islnds Fiji Finland France French. Polynesia French Guiana Gabon Gambia Georgia Germany Ghana Gibraltar Greece Greenland Grenada Guadeloupe Guam Guatemala Guinea Guinea-Bissau Guyana Haiti Honduras Hong Kong Hungary Iceland India Indonesia Ireland Israel Italy Ivory Coast Jamaica Japan Jordan Kazakhstan Kenya Kuwait Kyrgyzstan Laos Latvia Lebanon Lesotho Liberia Liechtenstein Lithuania Luxembourg Macau Macedonia Madagascar Malawi Malaysia Maldives Mali Malta Marshall Islands Martinique Mauritania Mauritius Mayotte Mexico Micronesia Moldavia Monaco Mongolia Montserrat Morocco Mozambique Myanmar N.Mariana Island Namibia Nauru Nepal Netherlands New Caledonia New Zealand Nicaragua Niger Nigeria Niue Islands Norfolk Island Norway Oman Pakistan Palau Panama Pap. New Guinea Paraguay Peru Philippines Poland Portugal Qatar Reunion Romania Russia Rwanda Samoa, American Saudi Arabia Senegal Serbia/Monten Seychelles Sierra Leone Singapore Slovakia Slovenia Solomon Islands Somalia South Africa South Korea Spain Sri Lanka St Kitts&Nevis St. Lucia St. Vincent Suriname Swaziland Sweden Switzerland Taiwan Tanzania Thailand Togo Tonga Trinidad, Tobago Tunisia Turkey Turkmenistan Turkish Caucusing Tuvalu Uganda Ukraine United Kingdom Uruguay United. Arab. Emirates. Uzbekistan Vanuatu Vatican City Venezuela Vietnam Wallis, Futuna Western Samoa Yemen Zambia Zimbabwe


We are prohibited by law from shipping to

Afghanistan, Cuba, Iran, Iraq, Libya, North Korea, Sudan, Syria.

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/16/09 at 10:53am

My Mac says "an applet from www.sparesweb.com" is trying to gain unrestricted access to my hard drive.

Allow or deny?

Of course, I deny.

And Mister Matt---that's the same warning I got as well, on my PCs. On my laptop last night I clicked "allow" because it was supposedly from Adobe Flash Player (via this sparesweb.com site).

So I allowed the Flash Player plug-in. Now, I'm getting those Norton Antivirus notices about a blocked attack on my laptop.

I'm guessing this is some sort of adware/spyware that one of BWW's linked ads is using, trying to gather personal info from the endusers. Not good. Way too aggressive, and a breach of privacy.

Hope they fix it. Soon. Or I'll be taking an immediate impromptu vacation from BWW for a while.

[Biff AKA Levi]

Posted: 10/16/09 at 11:03am

Really? A "vacation" because of a stupid inconvenience?

Just hit "no".

After I approved the adobe one (oops), I've been getting these two things:

Updated On: 10/16/09 at 11:03 AM

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/16/09 at 11:39am

I'll bet you wouldn't be so flippant with your "stupid inconvenience" remark if this attack got through on your computer. Norton isn't a guarantee. Still, I'm glad it's catching this one (so far).

And yes, those are the same notices I'm getting on my PCs.

And PJ----The British are coming, the British are coming!

One if by land, and two if by the UK-based sparesweb.com.

[danmag]

Posted: 10/16/09 at 11:51am

I'm getting those same things on my mac, Besty....it's so frustrating!

[mariusmyhomeboy]

Posted: 10/16/09 at 11:55am

That same screen popped up when I clicked "reply to message." Hmm. It's weird that Flash is coming from anywhere other than Adobe's website. I scanned my computer just to be safe.

[Jane2]

Posted: 10/16/09 at 12:00pm

Besty, I'm getting that applet screen also on my macs.

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/16/09 at 12:01pm

This doesn't seem to be a debilitating viral attack. And even though I don't store any passwords in keychains or on auto-fill databases, I wouldn't want this spyware to have access to my emails, my address books, my product keys for activating applications, etc.

Fun stuff.

[tazber]

Posted: 10/16/09 at 12:02pm

Yea, I got it too. And you're right besty, Norton isn't a guarantee.

[StockardFan]

Posted: 10/16/09 at 12:03pm

Knock on wood, it hasn't happened to me yet?

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/16/09 at 12:06pm

"It's weird that Flash is coming from anywhere other than Adobe's website. I scanned my computer just to be safe."


That's because it's not really a Flash plug-in, and it's not coming from Adobe. It's spyware! And by hitting "accept" or "run program," you are allowing it to have full access to your hard drive. So don't do that.

I'm glad I have Norton, and it's catching it on my laptop and sending me notices that "an attack on my computer from sparesweb.com has been blocked."

Yay for Norton. But I can't say I'm happy about seeing these attacks coming in, every time I visit BWW.

[tazber]

Posted: 10/16/09 at 12:11pm

So do we think it's coming from one of the ads then? What about if I disable my flash add on when I visit this site? Would that work?

[best12bars]

Posted: 10/16/09 at 12:19pm

I would certainly hope it's coming from one of the ads and not from BWW's website directly. I can't imagine that.

As Craig and Rob have described before, many of their ads are part of a "grouped service" that rotates them at random from third-party sources. I would look to this first as the issue.

Just like when, in the past, inappropriate or offensive content has randomly rotated into this site.

Rob and/or Craig have contacted them in the past, and those offensive ads have been removed from rotation.

I would think this would take a little more legwork as to which ad is using this spyware, but it still could and should be accomplished quickly.

As far as disabling Flash, I'm not sure that would stop it. It might stop the requests from this phony Adobe plug-in company from popping up, so you wouldn't have to deny them access each time. But if it rotates in as part of the ad block "action script" even without Flash, then it wouldn't help solve it at all.