# Circulating rumour concering ransom ware



## Fallowfox (Jun 25, 2016)

A rumour has been circulating that a ransom ware script is present on Fur affinity. 

Can any members of staff comment on this claim?


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## BRN (Jun 25, 2016)

Buy on the rumour, sell on the news, haha. 
My whole internet friendship circle uses FA, and I've heard nothing about this.


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## Fallowfox (Jun 26, 2016)

The rumour is true. www.reddit.com: Breaking, possible rumor: FA now contains 'Ransomware' • /r/furry


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## Somnium (Jun 26, 2016)

I know that ransomware scripts are present on porn sites, but I never managed to catch a one


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## Fallowfox (Jun 26, 2016)

The ransom ware script affects (at least) users of android devices.


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## KazWolf (Jun 26, 2016)

So, this means FA really has malware? D:


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## Fallowfox (Jun 26, 2016)

KazWolf said:


> So, this means FA really has malware? D:



Yes. :\ 

I really think it would be appropriate if the staff commented or made a status update on the forums recommending what users should do.

I don't know whether the site should be taken offline until it can be demonstrated to be safe.


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## Yukkie (Jun 26, 2016)

And my friends tell me to join it.

Ransomware, several flaws, and it's thrown peep's private info out.

_Sign me up._


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## KazWolf (Jun 26, 2016)

Site better be put down, so that staff can take look.

How many furries have got malware? I am still safe. I did complete malware scan on PC, now going to do that on phone as well.


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## Sergei Nóhomo (Jun 26, 2016)

KazWolf said:


> Site better go down, so that there wont be victims of this malware.
> 
> How many furries have got malware? I am still safe. I did complete malware scan on PC, now going to do that on phone as well.



Any site worth their salt wouldn't shut down because of this. Shutting down would mean a heavy cut into profits


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## KazWolf (Jun 26, 2016)

Sergei Nóhomo said:


> Any site worth their salt wouldn't shut down because of this. Shutting down would mean a heavy cut into profits


 No, I meant site to be put down so that staff can take look out if there is malware.


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## jrfan98 (Jun 26, 2016)

Is this true?! Is there any proof at all that this is on FA?


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## Fallowfox (Jun 26, 2016)

Sergei Nóhomo said:


> Any site worth their salt wouldn't shut down because of this. Shutting down would mean a heavy cut into profits



People have to be able to trust the website to use it at all, though. Fur affinity regularly goes into read only mode, so this would be a relatively small disturbance.



jrfan98 said:


> Is this true?! Is there any proof at all that this is on FA?


www.reddit.com: Breaking, possible rumor: FA now contains 'Ransomware' • /r/furry

Dragoneer himself has stated that some android users have been affected by malicious pop up adverts which lock their browsers and demand regular installments of money. 

He says that non-android devices are unaffected and that android devices are affected 'under rare circumstances'. 

...but I still don't feel reassured. 

I would feel reassured if something official was stated on the forum and something was done to the website to make sure that it couldn't possible infect anybody.


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## jrfan98 (Jun 26, 2016)

Here we go!


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## Dragoneer (Jun 26, 2016)

We have no proof or evidence that there is any such issue on FA. We've heard one report that something happened to a user but we haven't been able to confirm anything. If I had any suspicion this was happening I would shut down the ad system entirely. If this was happening en masse we'd be hearing more about it, and we'd take immediate action. I would not willingly or knowingly put our users at risk.

The problem with any sort of malware -- be it ads, ransomware or the like -- is that it often masquerades itself to hide it's origin. So it may not activate until a later point in time so you can't see where it came from. The only thing I am aware of currently is that (rarely) some users on Android devices are presented with pop-up ads which make browsing the site on their mobile device a pain, but we're investigating that.


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## Dragoneer (Jun 26, 2016)

Fallowfox said:


> Dragoneer himself has stated that some android users have been affected by malicious pop up adverts which lock their browsers and demand regular installments of money.


No, I did not say that. What I said was I am aware of some issues with Android devices were having issues with ads, but I am not aware of anything involving ransomware or users being forced to pay money to unlock their devices.


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## Fallowfox (Jun 26, 2016)

Dragoneer said:


> No, I did not say that. What I said was I am aware of some issues with Android devices were having issues with ads, but I am not aware of anything involving ransomware or users being forced to pay money to unlock their devices.



Thankyou; I must have misinterpreted your comment. 

I realise I am being very skittish, because of previous experience earlier this year, when my University department falsely reassured students several times that they had ended an incursion of the Dridex virus into the collegiate network, only to admit that they hadn't actually dispatched the virus and set about deleting all of our work, locking people out of the network, erasing student accounts and so on. It was a nightmare. 

Browsing the site on devices such as laptops should be completely safe then?


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## Dragoneer (Jun 26, 2016)

Fallowfox said:


> Thankyou; I must have misinterpreted your comment.
> 
> I realise I am being very skittish, because of previous experience earlier this year, when my University department falsely reassured students several times that they had ended an incursion of the Dridex virus into the collegiate network, only to admit that they hadn't actually dispatched the virus and set about deleting all of our work, locking people out of the network, erasing student accounts and so on. It was a nightmare.
> 
> Browsing the site on devices such as laptops should be completely safe then?


Yes. I would not knowingly let people use the site if I didn't feel it was safe to use. I'd rather put the site into read only or pull the ads (money be damned) than put users at risk. We're actively investigating any and and all claims that come our way (as we should) but I have no reason to believe there is any risk at this time. Given FA's recent security issue I completely understand that people's concerns are heightened, and I completely empathize with that.

And again, I'd like to stress that if I have any remote concern that something was happening with the ad system to I would pull it completely until we could get the issue resolved.


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## Deleted member 82554 (Jun 26, 2016)

I first heard about this rumor over at Fur Nation when the site admin pointed it out, but given the staffs track record with transparency (or lack thereof) and Furaffinity, I remain skeptical. However, I have made a note of this thread to help clear up any misconceptions.


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