Andre Yoskowitz
18 Nov 2015 20:21
NSA whistleblower Edward Snowden made some interesting comments during a recent interview, suggesting that everybody should be running an ad blocker, if not for the ads but just for security's sake.
Says Snowden: "We've seen internet providers like Comcast, AT&T, or whoever it is, insert their own ads into your plaintext http connections. ... As long as service providers are serving ads with active content that require the use of Javascript to display, that have some kind of active content like Flash embedded in it, anything that can be a vector for attack in your web browser -- you should be actively trying to block these. Because if the service provider is not working to protect the sanctity of the relationship between reader and publisher, you have not just a right but a duty to take every effort to protect yourself in response."
His point adds to recent headlines for these "malvertising" attacks where ad networks host files that are disguised as advertisements, and unwittingly put their viewers at risk.
Snowden is not the only person using ad blockers and their popularity has surged tremendously over the past few years. In fact, some reports have users jumping 41 percent year over year to over 200 million.
Source:
mashable