1. Welcome to VegasMessageBoard
    It appears you are visiting our community as a guest.
    In order to view full-size images, participate in discussions, vote in polls, etc, you will need to Log in or Register.

LVA Site Infected

Discussion in 'Misc. Vegas Chat' started by bardolator, Jul 13, 2013.

Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.
  1. bardolator

    bardolator Lifelong Low Roller

    Joined:
    Mar 30, 2005
    Messages:
    3,055
    Location:
    Gig Harbor, WA
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    999
    I signed into the Las Vegas Advisor FFA this morning and noticed a post saying the board has been infected by a virus. Did not hang around to get the details.
     
  2. phinfan08

    phinfan08 Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Jun 6, 2011
    Messages:
    109
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    4
    Virus?

    I recently got a virus, destroying some of social media outlets. I have never had a virus before, and I have recently started play myvegas. This could be unrelated, but thought I'd check, has anyone else had any problems?
     
  3. luckylarry

    luckylarry Tourist

    Joined:
    Sep 14, 2010
    Messages:
    72
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    8
    Got the same message by my antivirus...not worth going to at the best of times but especially so now that the site is infected.
     
  4. phinfan08

    phinfan08 Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Jun 6, 2011
    Messages:
    109
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    4
    Disregard -- It has been proven it was from Vegas Advisor.

    Thanks.
     
  5. papillon

    papillon Tourist

    Joined:
    Jun 23, 2013
    Messages:
    71
    Location:
    Sarasota, Florida
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    10
    So is it safe to log on to Las Vegas Advisor now or should we still stay away? I'm a member there so I go on it often. Didn't see any post saying the website was infected.
     
  6. chef

    chef Resident Buffetologist

    Joined:
    Apr 20, 2002
    Messages:
    5,573
    Location:
    Illinois
    Over the last couple years, I've been spending less and less time at the LVA site, especially the message boards. Anyone else getting burned out on it?
     
  7. Big Tip

    Big Tip VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Oct 22, 2008
    Messages:
    2,392
    Location:
    Austin
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    67
    Link?








    Yes, I am kidding!
     
  8. bardolator

    bardolator Lifelong Low Roller

    Joined:
    Mar 30, 2005
    Messages:
    3,055
    Location:
    Gig Harbor, WA
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    999
    I quit the paid side several years ago because of waning interest and abysmal customer relations. What actually happened was that my account and user ID were terminated without notice a few days before my subscription was to expire, and nobody asked me to re-up. I took that as a sign.

    Had been reading the FFA for the past couple weeks to see if anything had changed. It had- it got worse.
     
  9. papillon

    papillon Tourist

    Joined:
    Jun 23, 2013
    Messages:
    71
    Location:
    Sarasota, Florida
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    10
    Sorry if this sounds stupid, but what's an FFA? And I ask again, should I avoid going on LVA? I mostly go on the site to check out hotel deals cuz they usually have good discounts. Thanks for your help.
     
  10. makikiboy

    makikiboy VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Oct 5, 2007
    Messages:
    6,752
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    35
    FFA means free for all. It is the free side of the forum. There are 2 sides, the paid side and the "free" side.

    the ffa side has a thread on viruses on LVA. This past weekend my antivirus program was catching things trying to do something on my computer so something may have been up. But no matter what, always best to have an antivirus program running just in case as these could pop up anytime.
     
  11. Oxygenator

    Oxygenator Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Feb 15, 2012
    Messages:
    340
    Location:
    Toronto area, Ontario
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    18
    The LVA site just sent my Kaspersky into overdrive. Trying to attack my computer. I would avoid it.
     
  12. bardolator

    bardolator Lifelong Low Roller

    Joined:
    Mar 30, 2005
    Messages:
    3,055
    Location:
    Gig Harbor, WA
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    999
    Second what makikiboy just posted.

    I cannot say what sites may be infected in what ways. Since I do not generally use third parties to book travel and would not knowingly give money to Kurt Flowers (aka Anthony Curtis), I doubt I'll be back there anytime soon.
     
  13. papillon

    papillon Tourist

    Joined:
    Jun 23, 2013
    Messages:
    71
    Location:
    Sarasota, Florida
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    10
    A coworker who is also a paying member of LVA called them today to ask about it. They told him that a Google Ad on the website was infected and that they are trying to fix it. I don't know if this is true or just them trying to minimize the problem, but until I hear otherwise, I suggest people avoid both paid and free side of LVA. Hope this helps.
     
  14. bardolator

    bardolator Lifelong Low Roller

    Joined:
    Mar 30, 2005
    Messages:
    3,055
    Location:
    Gig Harbor, WA
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    999
    Right. LVA has acknowledged the problem but, curiously, has been very slow to solve it.

    Kevin Knagl wrote a definitive answer about the LVA virus issue on his board, lvadvice.com. I will post what he wrote if he gives me permission.
     
  15. phinfan08

    phinfan08 Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Jun 6, 2011
    Messages:
    109
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    4
    FWIW -- this virus destroyed my twitter account. :cry:

    The odd thing is, I hadn't visited the site in months -- what bad timing!
     
  16. bardolator

    bardolator Lifelong Low Roller

    Joined:
    Mar 30, 2005
    Messages:
    3,055
    Location:
    Gig Harbor, WA
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    999
    Here are excerpts from Knagl's post on lvadvice:

    Is it safe to visit the site? Yes and no.

    So long as your anti-virus software is sending up the red flare, it's actually notifying you that you've been protected from the rogue ad, so for you, yes, it's reasonably safe for you to go there since your anti-virus software is up to date. If you have a computer that does not have up-to-date anti-virus software on it, it would not be safe to visit the site right now.

    I find it pretty humorous that a full business day later they still haven't removed the problem, despite noting under the "Today's News" that they're aware of it....

    Any IT person worth their salt would have had the issue at least quarantined within minutes. Here we are, two and a half days later (with one full business day in there) and they're still potentially infecting visitors to their site.
     
  17. papillon

    papillon Tourist

    Joined:
    Jun 23, 2013
    Messages:
    71
    Location:
    Sarasota, Florida
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    10
    My co-worker called LVA again today and they said the problem was fixed by their IT guy but they are still getting emails from their members about the virus. The woman on the phone said you might want to stay away from the LVA website for another day. Apparently, she didn't sound like she knew much about it. Does anyone know if this is only a PC problem and not a Mac?
     
  18. bardolator

    bardolator Lifelong Low Roller

    Joined:
    Mar 30, 2005
    Messages:
    3,055
    Location:
    Gig Harbor, WA
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    999
    Not offhand. I can check again with Knagl and let you know.
     
  19. makikiboy

    makikiboy VIP Whale

    Joined:
    Oct 5, 2007
    Messages:
    6,752
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    35

    Actually I thought the problem might have been that they couldn't determine which ad was causing the problem so were having difficulty finding it. yes, they could back it all out and one by one bring the ads back but even then unless someone assists them with finding the problem they may have some difficulty. yes a good IT person would probably help but this is one of the problems when you put ads on your web site.
     
  20. ItsJustMe

    ItsJustMe Low-Roller

    Joined:
    Oct 12, 2011
    Messages:
    122
    Location:
    Hawaii
    Trips to Las Vegas:
    27
    This is why I use Firefox with the Ad Block extension loaded. It effectively kills all ads within a web page from loading onto the browser.

    A lot of web sites that become infected do so due to an contaminated ad <-this is the weak link that is easily exploited.
     
Tags:
Thread Status:
Not open for further replies.