25.12.2008 22:49:55 Network Shield: blocked access to malicious site dragcave.net/account [ C:\Program Files\Mozilla Firefox\firefox.exe ]
I haven't been able to figure out why the Dragon Cave, where we all get our eggs from, is tripping Avast Antivirus. However, this just started tonight. I'm removing my eggs from my signatures and removing my dragons from the 'menagerie' posts that I've made across the internet. You may wish to consider doing the same. If I knew the nature of the error (or what is tripping the antivirus), then I'd be able to provide more details. Anyone know anything about what's going on with that site?
Dragcave.net: Malicious Site?
-
Vagrant
- Legendary
- Posts: 716
- Joined: Sun Nov 16, 2008 4:50 am
- Custom Title: Prolific Procrastinator
- Gender: Male
- Contact:
Re: Dragcave.net: Malicious Site?
I can think of the number one possible reason for this, and I really don't want to disable my own protection in order to check.
Does dragcave.net have ads at all?
If so, there could be a malicious ad in the cycle, and if that's the case the the site maintainer needs to be informed. Many sites have had this happen to them, even some really well known ones I visit.
This is why I tend to run NoScript and AdblockPlus on Firefox, sometimes the site can be completely innocent, but the ads can be malware and filled with browser exploits.
Does dragcave.net have ads at all?
If so, there could be a malicious ad in the cycle, and if that's the case the the site maintainer needs to be informed. Many sites have had this happen to them, even some really well known ones I visit.
This is why I tend to run NoScript and AdblockPlus on Firefox, sometimes the site can be completely innocent, but the ads can be malware and filled with browser exploits.
-
takyoji
- Legendary
- Posts: 530
- Joined: Tue Nov 27, 2007 4:46 pm
- Gender: Male
- Mood: Busy
- Location: Minnesotan, dontcha' know!
- Contact:
Re: Dragcave.net: Malicious Site?
I checked which Javascript files were being loaded via Firebug. Apparently there's an external script on edge.quantserve.com which hosts potentially malicious advertisements (although I use Adblock Plus for Firefox, yay Adblock Plus). I checked the WOT rating (yay WOT for Firefox), and it has a very low rating and has been marked once by someone for hosting malicious content: http://www.mywot.com/en/scorecard/edge.quantserve.com
As for everything else on the website, it appears to be clean and to have a good rating on WOT.
As for everything else on the website, it appears to be clean and to have a good rating on WOT.
Avatar original image by "sometimesong" of Flickr, released under the Creative Commons license (share-alike, attribution, non-commercial, no-derivatives)
-
Vagrant
- Legendary
- Posts: 716
- Joined: Sun Nov 16, 2008 4:50 am
- Custom Title: Prolific Procrastinator
- Gender: Male
- Contact:
Re: Dragcave.net: Malicious Site?
That's a great bit of research, takyoji, and it really doesn't surprise me in the least.
I did a little research into that server too, and it seems like it's a part of Quantcast, which may explain it. From what I've read, Quantcast is apparently not afraid of doing the naughty when it comes to collecting supposedly anonymous information for their research sales purposes.
The maintainer of dragcave.net should probably be informed about this, and it should be pointed out to them that the downside is that while they have a perfectly valid and clean site, Quantcast is causing them to appear viral to those who visit.
Edited to add...
I tried to sign up with their forum to inform them, but it seems to be riddled with MySQL errors at the momnet...
I did a little research into that server too, and it seems like it's a part of Quantcast, which may explain it. From what I've read, Quantcast is apparently not afraid of doing the naughty when it comes to collecting supposedly anonymous information for their research sales purposes.
The maintainer of dragcave.net should probably be informed about this, and it should be pointed out to them that the downside is that while they have a perfectly valid and clean site, Quantcast is causing them to appear viral to those who visit.
Edited to add...
I tried to sign up with their forum to inform them, but it seems to be riddled with MySQL errors at the momnet...
-
Moss27
- Legendary
- Posts: 276
- Joined: Tue Jul 22, 2008 4:49 pm
- Custom Title: Moon Hunter
- Gender: Female
- Mood: Bored
- Location: Around
- Contact:
Re: Dragcave.net: Malicious Site?
And also, dragcave.net loads really slowly or not at all. Is this related, or do you think BOTH of my Explorer and Firefox servers are wonky?
"I didn't do my homework, so why am I in trouble for something I didn't do?"
-
Vagrant
- Legendary
- Posts: 716
- Joined: Sun Nov 16, 2008 4:50 am
- Custom Title: Prolific Procrastinator
- Gender: Male
- Contact:
Re: Dragcave.net: Malicious Site?
Their site is being pummelled due to the popularity of it, I'd imagine. Things like this tend to spread across the Internet like wildfire, and I expect that there are possibly hundreds of boards out there with Dragon eggs on them, and each egg constitutes at least one page hit daily.
They're probably running low on overall bandwidth, only so many people can fit in those tubes at once, after all. So when the site stops responding or is laggy, it means that they've just run low on available bandwidth. Give it a little while and it clears up again.
They're probably running low on overall bandwidth, only so many people can fit in those tubes at once, after all. So when the site stops responding or is laggy, it means that they've just run low on available bandwidth. Give it a little while and it clears up again.