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Malvertising attack menaces Match.com users with tainted love

Infected ads threaten lonely hearts' romantic pursuits

Update Security researchers have uncovered a malvertising attack run over ad networks and aimed at users of dating site Match.com.

The tainted ads are mainly targeting UK users, security firm Malwarebytes warns. Match.com's servers themselves have not been breached.

The latest attack follows a similar assault against Match's sister site PlentyofFish last month. The same gang are using Google shortened URLs that ultimately lead, through a series of redirections, to sites hosting the Angler exploit kit, according to Malwarebytes.

The assault against lovestruck users of Match.com is ultimately geared towards flinging variants of the CryptoWall ransomware and the Bedep ad fraud Trojan.

Malwarebytes alerted Match.com and the related advertisers, but the malvertising campaign is still ongoing via other routes, the security firm warns.

Match.com clocks up 27m users per month worldwide.

Update

A spokesperson for Match.com UK sent us a statement:

We take the security of our members very seriously. Earlier today [September 3] we took the precautionary measure of temporarily suspending advertising on our UK site whilst we investigated a potential malware issue. Our security experts were able to identify and isolate the affected adverts; this does not represent a breach of our site or our users’ data.

To date, we have not received any reports from our users that they have been affected by these adverts. Nonetheless, we advise all users to protect themselves from this type of cyber-threat by updating their antivirus / anti malware software.

The issue identified today is related to malware within advertising that was published on our site. To be clear, it is not a breach of our site or user data.

Like many websites, Match.com’s advertisements are provided by third-party partners and we have worked closely with them to respond quickly to this potential vulnerability.

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