Wikipedia banner ads could mean that your PC has malware

You’ve probably used Wikipedia before. It has the become the go to guy on the Internet – a McGuyver all the way. Of course, there are other awesome resources too that we like. But in case you used Wikipedia this week and found a particular page with a banner advertisement at the top, chances are that your computer is infected with a certain type of malware. Writing to its users today via its official blog, Wikipedia said that it never runs ads on its pages and that Wikipedia is funded by more than a million donors. “If you’re seeing advertisements for a for-profit industry or anything but our fundraiser, then your web browser has likely been infected with malware,” Philippe Beaudette of Wikipedia said.

Wikipedia mentioned a couple of browser extensions that might be causing the problem. Beaudette recommends users to check their browser extensions and remove suspicious ones. Beaudette also recommends that users disable browser add-ins to determine the source of these types of ads, although he admits that doing so does not necessarily fix the source of the problem, as malware may make deep changes to your operating system. So if you see one right now, the best solution will be to have your computer checked. Luckily, I don’t see any banner ads on Wikipedia in my browser. It always pays to have a good antivirus/ anti-malware software around. Philippe Beaudette added that we won’t be seeing legitimate advertisements on Wikipedia. “We’re here to distribute the sum of human knowledge to everyone on the planet — ad-free, forever,” he said.

Gene Ryan Briones
Categories: Web
Tags: Security, wikipedia