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Stay safe from “malvertising”
Last month we gave you a heads up about some scammer activity targeting Trade Me Motors users in particular, and set out some advice to keep yourself safe online.
In the last couple of days we’ve seen another little piece of evilness target Trade Me. It’s a combination of malicious software and advertising (“malvertising”). This involves cybercriminals using an online advertisement to distribute malware.
We have processes in place to prevent ads like this appearing but unfortunately this week one snuck through. We’re sorry that it happened. The ad purported to be for Lonely Planet and was on the site from Thursday morning until Friday lunchtime.
It will only have affected members who: (i) saw the ad; (ii) have an out-of-date browser or operating system; and (iii) have out-of-date (or non-existent) anti-virus software. As soon as we became aware that the ad was causing issues for members we immediately removed it.
It’s a reminder for everyone to make sure you take some simple steps to keep safe from these types of dodgy attacks.
1. Make sure your browser is up-to-date.
2. Make sure your operating system is up-to-date.
3. Make sure you are using up-to-date anti-virus software.
4. Don’t download anything that looks remotely dodgy or that you aren’t sure about. If you are prompted to download something that doesn’t look legitimate while browsing Trade Me, report it to us ASAP via email abuse@trademe.co.nz.