{"id":175587,"date":"2021-01-15T19:08:00","date_gmt":"2021-01-16T00:08:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2021\/01\/15\/announcing-the-obvious\/"},"modified":"2021-01-15T19:08:00","modified_gmt":"2021-01-16T00:08:00","slug":"announcing-the-obvious","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/2021\/01\/15\/announcing-the-obvious\/","title":{"rendered":"Announcing the Obvious"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>  The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has offered guidance   to all Federal agencies suggesting that   <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cyberscoop.com\/ad-blockers-security-nsa-dhs-wyden\/\">they install ad-blocking software<\/a>, because it is a gaping security hole. <\/p>\n<p>  This revelation, and $6.95, will get you a small Starbucks decaf pour-over: <\/p>\n<blockquote><p>  <span style=\"color: blue;\">The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency urged federal     agencies on Thursday to deploy ad-blocking software and standardize web     browser usage across their workforces in order to fend off advertisements     implanted with malware. <\/p>\n<p>\u201cWith many agencies greatly expanding     telework options, agencies should increase attention on securing federal     endpoints, including associated web browsing capabilities,\u201d the Department     of Homeland Security\u2019s cyber arm said in     <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cisa.gov\/sites\/default\/files\/publications\/Capacity_Enhancement_Guide-Securing_Web_Browsers_and_Defending_Against_Malvertising_for_Federal_Agencies.pdf\">a guide for agencies<\/a>. <\/p>\n<p>With the alert, CISA joins the National Security Agency,     which in 2018     <a href=\"https:\/\/apps.nsa.gov\/iaarchive\/customcf\/openAttachment.cfm?FilePath=\/iad\/library\/supporting-documents\/faq\/assets\/public\/upload\/Blocking-Unnecessary-Advertising-Web-Content.pdf&amp;WpKes=aF6woL7fQp3dJid6QfdkLEGcwHEunyXFxHUV7K\">likewise urged agencies<\/a>    to adopt ad blockers in response to the threat from \u201cmalvertising\u201d that can     spread malware. <\/p>\n<p>\u2026\u2026\u2026 <\/p>\n<p>\u201cSome browser extensions are     known to accept payment from advertisers to ensure their ads are allowlisted     from blocking,\u201d the agency said, citing concerns that Sen.     <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cyberscoop.com\/tag\/ron-wyden\/\">Ron Wyden<\/a>, D-Ore.     raised last year to the Federal Trade Commission. <\/p>\n<p>Wyden     nonetheless had urged the White House to use ad blockers, citing at least     one media report of Russia using seemingly innocuous advertisements to     target a state election agency. <\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>The entire online ad space can be described as a toxic mix of fraud and security exploits.&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As I am writing about online ads, my standard disclaimer on any post about the aforementioned service applies:<\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Also, please note, this should be in no way construed as an inducement    or a request for my reader(s) to click on any ad that they would not    otherwise be inclined to investigate further. This would be a violation    of the terms of service for Google\u2122 Adsense\u2122. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency has offered guidance to all Federal agencies suggesting that they install ad-blocking software, because it is a gaping security hole. This revelation, and $6.95, will get you a small Starbucks decaf pour-over: The U.S. Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency urged federal agencies on Thursday to deploy ad-blocking software &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[608],"class_list":["post-175587","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","tag-advertising"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175587"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=175587"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/175587\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=175587"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=175587"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.panix.com\/~msaroff\/40years\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=175587"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}