Click Here To Infect Your PC!

Email me for FREE viruses writes "Just how many people would click an ad saying "Is your PC virus-free? Get it infected here!"? According to the security researcher who ran that very ad on Google for 6 months, 0.16% (409 of 259,723) would click on it. 98% of those people were running Windows. The Google Adwords campaign cost $23 in total, which works out to $0.06 per infection had the site actually been malicious."

How many slashdotters

[Anonymous Coward]

Then went and clicked on the link in the article? :P

It's hardly a surprise

[Xiph]

to tech professionals, that users need clue distributed by bat

Sad...

[Max Romantschuk]

The sad thing is that using something more enticing like "Free boobs this way" would send millions of clueless Joe Windowses your way... All ripe for the picking.

Re:It's hardly a surprise

[the unbeliever]

Getting rid of most std's is easier than getting rid of some spyware/viruses...

Consider your average spyware/virus akin to chlamydia or syph, while the really nasty stuff is more like aids/herpes...

Granted, you can't reformat your body and get rid of it, but if you consider a reformat more along the lines of reincarnation...

Re:Sad...

[Architect_sasyr]

Which way did you say?

Re:How many slashdotters

[Ceriel Nosforit]

You mean amongst the approximately 0.16% who actually RTFA? :o)

ONLY?

[Opportunist]

0.16%? I'd have guessed far more would click.

Next time call it "hot chicks with huge tits want to give you some love virus". I predict a /. effect.

Time for a crusade!

[mrbluze]

Getting rid of most std's is easier than getting rid of some spyware/viruses...

We need to go on a crusade to teach people how to surf porn safely, such as avoiding using a firewall on a microsoftie, but to make sure you have a hardened system first!

For once I have an excuse...

[JetScootr]

for not RTFA'ing. Being a true /.er, here's my opinion anyway:
Microsoft sucks. Users are idiots.

Re:Time for a crusade!

[ronanbear]

If you had a hardened system first then porn wouldn't be as useful.

Re:How many slashdotters

[simm1701]

Yes but I did it from lynx, on a non priveliged account, on an AIX box - I'd like to have see the malware that would target that!!!

I'm not paranoid!! They are out to get me!!

Re:You pay all this money for AV software..

[seven7h]

Looks like we have a member of the 0.16% here on /.
$12.50 x 4 = $50

click_me.exe

[voudras]

My good friend once joked that 95% of users would double click an icon named "ClickMe.EXE", without much thought at all.

the other 5 percent would right click and select open.

Badsense

[Dogtanian]

The sad thing is that using something more enticing like "Free boobs this way" would send millions of clueless Joe Windowses your way...

I can see the advert now:-

Free boobies for all! [wikipedia.org]
Cute booby chicks for your delectation! aff
en.wikipedia.org

Wait....

[ZeroSerenity]

Was this story really submitted by Gates himself?

Re:Goatse!

[Anonymous Coward]

just the once

Re:Sad...

[SkyDude]

The sad thing is that using something more enticing like "Free boobs this way" would send millions of clueless Joe Windowses your way... All ripe for the picking.

And of course, no *nix users would EVER do that.....

Re:How many slashdotters

[weighn]

I'm not paranoid!! They are out to get me!!

hmm, there's still scope for narrowing the attack surface. I'll snail-mail you a C64 port of Lynx and follow with a MD5 hash to your next door neighbor 2 weeks later ...

My PC is still virus-free?

[nickspoon]

I'm disappointed.

Re:How many slashdotters

[jstretch78]

"Click Here To Infect Your PC!" == "NAKED NAKED NAKED LADIES FREE BEER"

Curiosity killed....wait free beer?

Re:Sad...

[ZOMFF]

It's true. Free porn is a great way to get people to click on things they usually wouldn't click on. While I was in college about 8 years ago, I set up a porn share from my computer that was password protected. I also included a file called GET_PORN_PASSWORD.EXE which popped up a box with the password. The EXE also installed the client stub for Sub7 (a type of back-orafice program). Since Sub7 was fairly new, none of the antivirus software picked up on it. Over the next 24 hours I had pretty much 8,000 machines that I could fully remote, pull data off of, log key strokes, etc (my personal favorite was opening the cdrom drive and playing a "FEED ME" wave file).

Luckily I was never questioned about the matter and by the time most people caught on, Antivirus definitions were updated to detect the Sub7 stub.

Re:How many slashdotters

[GuldKalle]

Well, there is a certain logic to it anyways. Normally when you click a pr0n-link, you get infected with a virus. So if you click a virus-link, you would expect to see porn.

Re:How many slashdotters

[sticky_charris]

Thats why real perverts run linux ;)

Re:Attempted Infection == Infection

[ColdWetDog]

Oh no, that's much too complex. I just click on the little blue "E". Works every time.

Re:How many slashdotters

[Archangel Michael]

Is this some sort of bizarre form of the Soviet Russia Meme???

Re:Analogy

[Monsieur_F]

Like the girl who was sweeping and accidentally smashed her hand through a window.

This is why people should stop using windows!