Flash Ads Infect Browser Clipboard - Nasty!
Firefox, IE and Safari web browsers are all being attacked (yes, including Firefox on MAC and Linux) by a malicious/nasty Flash banner ad campaign including banners on some very popular sites.
The attack takes the form of copying a URL that points to a nasty site onto the browser's Clipboard - where cut/paste operations are stored.
There is a Demo of this action available if you want to know how to recognize it and I can tell you that the "NoScript" plugin on Firefox blocks it nicely. (Click on <Tools><Add-ons> and select Get Add-ons)
Adobe is looking at the problem now and I'll let you know if/when there is a fix for it. In the mean time if you use the "Paste" function and notice that it is adding an extra URL (that points to a site trying to sell you anti-virus software or whatever) that you somehow can't get rid of, the current consensus is that you should log out and reboot your computer to clear the clipboard. There are purported to be ways of clearing it involving deleting cookies but for not this may be harder than just rebooting. There is no indication that the problem persists after a reboot.
The one thing to ensure is that you really CHECK anything you paste - especially if it is to another web page while you're editing it - so you don't inadvertently infect your own viewers. See the following links for more information
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