Incident Response, Malware, TDR, Vulnerability Management

Sneaky websites on Google App Engine distribute adware

Be wary. Two legitimate-looking websites on the Google App Engine server are serving up some nasty adware to unsuspecting users.

The Google App Engine is a platform for developing and hosting web applications that also allows customers to register and host websites using the domain appspot.com. 

The first appspot.com website prompts a free Java download for the executable file “Setup.exe” and appears very similar to the download page for Java, Jason Ding, a research scientist at Barracuda Labs, said in a post. When executed, users are told that they do not have the minimum system requirements, but really the adware will be installed. The second appspot.com website prompts the message, “A Media Player Update is Required to View this Content,” and users are once again prompted to download “Setup.exe,” which installs the adware.

The Barracuda Labs anti-virus vendors list the malicious download as "Solimba Adware." The links were reported as still active on Tuesday.

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