When good sites go bad

This is a follow up from a question from a reader of the previous post. Paraphrased it was, can websites become malicious at any time? Should we scan websites that we go to frequently or just new ones? That is an excellent question. So good that I figured I would follow up on the last post.

The short answer is yes. I would scan sites semi regular, even ones you go to all of the time. I would especially recommend this for sites that involve financial transactions. I am including some links here to some stories where well known sites have been found to distribute malicious content. This isn't necessarily them doing it, more of the fact that people target these sites in attempt to infect more people.

Another thing that can be helpful is to make sure you are doing your Microsoft Updates. Move to the IE 8 Web browser (should get this from Microsoft Updates), if not you can go to microsoft.com and download it. To know if you are running IE 8; open the browser, go to the Help menu, then about Internet Explorer. Alternatively you can use Firefox as well. Remember to keep that updated as well.

Finally you can go so far as to run your browser in a virtual machine or with a program such as sandboxie. Sandboxie keeps the browser session you are running in a protected memory space. This isn't a silver bullet, just another arrow for the quiver.

CNN Malware
When malware strikes via bad ads on good sites
Malware Delivered by Yahoo, Fox, Google ads

Relax, the Internet isn't all bad stuff. Here is a palette cleanser for you to show you that:

Surprised Kitty
Charlie Bit Me!