Chat bot?

Cantremember

last night and again tonight a chat bot appears shortly after I log in to boards. I'm on iPad and the boards window disappears replaced by a bot called samantha27. Same text each night. Houston, we have a problem.

Cantremember

Pls edit thread title: typo.

Tokyo

Can you post some screenshots?

My initial thoughts are that it's something on your end of things, rather than on the forum - that when you log in, the page is being redirected somewhere else....

GLaDOS

Getting nothing here. Could be something malicious on your end?

Ruu

Is this still a problem for you? I didn't notice anything different.

Professey Chin

Clear on multiple devices here. Definitely sounds like an issue with your device/router

Calhoun

If i was to pinpoint it, it seems to be in the you laugh you lose thread. I am on a corporate laptop, that i can guarentee is on a stock corporate build nothing dodgy been done on it.

When i click onto the YLYL thread a popup with some dating website popped up.

It seems to be intermittent i cant duplicate and shut it down.

Dav

YLYL occasionally causes problems because browsers get malware alerts because someone has hot-linked to a dodgy site. 100% of the time these things have happened that's been the reason.

Unfortunately, 100% of the time anyone's reported some sort of "hack" like this, it's been some form of malware that's running on their machine, but this is the first time I've seen it reported on an iOS device. OP, can you tell me what browser you're using and if it's a jailbroken device or not?

Calhoun

Dav wrote: »

YLYL occasionally causes problems because browsers get malware alerts because someone has hot-linked to a dodgy site. 100% of the time these things have happened that's been the reason.

Unfortunately, 100% of the time anyone's reported some sort of "hack" like this, it's been some form of malware that's running on their machine, but this is the first time I've seen it reported on an iOS device. OP, can you tell me what browser you're using and if it's a jailbroken device or not?

Happened on my ipad lastnight using the default browser, not jailbroken.

Dav

OK, I'm first of all, moving this to Site Dev, cause it's not a FB issue, but more importantly, opening an urgent investigation.

Calhoun and CantRemember - can you tell me any other details? What forum, what site the pop-ups were coming from or trying to direct you to - anything that might help me track this down?

Cantremember

This hasn't appeared since. It doesn't appear on any other forum I use and I use a few. I use chrome on iPad. There was no website visible. Just a grey page divided in two. The "chat" was the same each night from Sam27 which made it obviously a bot. If I get it again will screenshot but will have to Degeo first: too many nosy b******s in AH!
Sorry, it wasn't a pop up. Filled the full screen. I quit it by hitting the back button I think. I have to confess I call Samantha27 a lot of nasty names.

Daisy 55

ok, so have got this message a few times, only when I'm on boards.ie. Client chat message ? From "Samantha" 4.7 miles away. I was in another location yesterday. Same message popped up. Hubby says he's had the same message. Both of us on iPads. What's this anyone?

JoseJones

Sounds like an ad. Is it just at the side or bottom of the page? If it is I'd just ignore it like you would with any other ad you see on web pages. Or use an adblocker program.

Cantremember

This is a problem. There's a thread in Sys forum. Site development.

Willfarman

Jaysus and I thought I had I had got lucky! Treacherous bitch.

degsie

Saaaamaaaathaaaaaaaaaaa....hmmmmm...

Stalker?

Mr. G

Screen capture it if it happens again.

Daisy 55

JoseJones wrote: »

Sounds like an ad. Is it just at the side or bottom of the page? If it is I'd just ignore it like you would with any other ad you see on web pages. Or use an adblocker program.

It appears as a a small window in the middle of the screen and a new page opens. Not at the side, so don't think it's an ad.

Daisy 55

Me too! Samantha. Says 4.7 miles from home. Happened in another location also. And also same for hubby. Both on iPads.

Only happened on boards.ie.

Odelay

Cantremember wrote: »

last night and again tonight a chat bot appears shortly after I log in to boards. I'm on iPad and the boards window disappears replaced by a bot called samantha27. Same text each night. Houston, we have a problem.[/quote.


I have had the exact same issue the last two nights too using an android tablet.

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

Im seeing the same on my S5 running android. If I click the link it redirects to daterex.com and then redirects automatically 5 or 6 times.

Only seeing this issue on boards. And i use the phone a lot.

JoseJones

Ahh fair enough, does sound like a strange problem then. It is probably some type of popup ad but annoying that it's opening a new window. Can you download an adblocker? I'm not familiar with iOS devices. I often see ads like this designed to look like facebook chat windows etc.

Dav

Merged 2 threads on this issue, we are investigating, but it's not an easy one to track down. Were you on Windows PC's I'd have already dismissed it as Malware, but that's a lot less frequent on iOS devices.

It's being looked at this morning, but we really need as much possible information as we can get - does this attempt to link off somewhere? What threads you were on when you saw it? Does it say it's from some specific website? Anything at all you can tell us about this to help us identify what it is would be a big help.

HeidiHeidi

I got this when I clicked (by mistake) on the Quick Reply button a few days ago. I'm pretty sure I was on my laptop (not a Mac), but could have been on an Android tablet.

A full separate window opened up inviting me to chat with Samantha27.

I leapt for the back button, and closed the window down, so unfortunately can't remember any further details - but it was definitely the Quick Reply button that opened up the window.

Can't remember what thread I was in at the time, sorry.

Calhoun

Can happen on any page, I was clicking into this thread and it happened. This is the redirect.

http://mobile-notifications.com/chat/encj1/Samantha/chat.html?voluumdata=vid..00000001-4d47-4fac-8000-000000000000__vpid..f8be5000-7ec0-11e4-8fcf-288160fbb492__caid..98de0fce-4f9b-45f4-8406-1cd78a6f0565__lid..918b0ea9-9709-400f-b2f3-c49c65b5547a__rt..D__oid1..c636a591-6ffa-4eee-91dd-97f6f3fb913d__var1..119899__var2..IE__var3..live-537%5C.%5Cdaterex%5C.%5Ccom__var4..iOS-iPads&c1=119899&c2=IE&c3=live-537.daterex.com&c4=iOS-iPads

Boards.ie: Chris

Any idea what ads were on the page Calhoun? Are you using Chrome on the iPad?

Calhoun

I was clicking from the user CP directly into this page, so the only add i believe would be the banner ad.

I am using the stock browser (safari i believe) that comes with the ipad.

Boards.ie: Chris

I "think" I've found the ad in question. Just need to see how I can get it removed.

Daisy 55

Didn't seem like an ad though. Samantha27. A small window opened in the middle of the screen. A new page opened at the same time. Then a couple of posts one after another for a minute or so. "Hello, are you still there?" And such. No sign of any ad or pictures though. I closed the page quickly.

Only on boards for us. Both on iPads.


What's a chat bot though? Should I be concerned?

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

Sorry I can't be more specific. I was just browsing a few forums. It seems to be random for me.

Boards.ie: Chris

Daisy 55 wrote: »

Didn't seem like an ad though. Samantha27. A small window opened in the middle of the screen. A new page opened at the same time. Then a couple of posts one after another for a minute or so. "Hello, are you still there?" And such. No sign of any ad or pictures though. I closed the page quickly.

Only on boards for us. Both on iPads.


What's a chat bot though? Should I be concerned?

The ads you see on the site contain code to make them work. The ads are written by the advertisers, submitted to an agency, and then we pull the ads from the agency to display on the site. The ads are supposed to be vetted by the agency to make sure they don't do anything you would want them to like play sounds, or in this case redirect you to another page. Unfortunately some fall through the cracks and this seems to be one of those.

A chatbot in itself isn't too malicious. It's purpose is to trick you into giving it your credit card or contact details. It pretends to be a real person starting a conversation with you (usually sexual) and quickly escalates into trying to get details off you. Unless you gave it your credit card number, I wouldn't be too concerned.

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

I gave sam127 my life story

In all seriousness though, I'll keep an eye on it for the next few days. Hopefully you've caught the rouge ad.

I've never had the problem on the Windows PC. Only the android btw.

Daisy 55

Thanks for the info Chris. Was a bit alarming to be honest, esp on iOS. Hadn't seen anything like that before!

Dr.Rieux

I've seen this just now on my iPad running safari, not jail broken. Redirected to a chat site than a number of redirects to porn sites. Google threw up something similar in June 2012 (which is how I found this forum actually)

HeidiHeidi

I was redirected to a selection of delightful porn sites from this thread late last night

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2057339806

Unfortunately I was half asleep at the time so I can't remember what it was I did that started it all off, but every time I hit the back button I got a different porn site. Had to close the tab altogether to get rid of them.

No Samantha this time though - straight to porn.

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

Dr.Rieux and Heidi, can you have a look at your browser history.

What is the first redirect page after whatever forum you were on? Was it similar to mine? daterex.com

HeidiHeidi

Dwayne Scary Supplement wrote: »

Dr.Rieux and Heidi, can you have a look at your browser history.

What is the first redirect page after whatever forum you were on? Was it similar to mine? daterex.com

You'll have to talk me though that in words of one syllable I'm afraid!

Not the foggiest idea what you mean........

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

Just happened to me now. Redirected to live-537 . daterex . c o m/redirect . h t m l, then onto dating. application -9 .net

Sorry for all the spaces but I didn't want my post being blocked.

I had clicked onto the national postcodes thread here on the homepage.

Using a Samsung S5.

HeidiHeidi

Samantha's just made a reappearance here....

I'm on an android tablet, was trying to enlarge the final page of the current liveline thread, and up she popped.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=93386371#post93386371

I'm almost sure I didn't actually click on any button or link.

Dr.Rieux

Dwayne Scary Supplement wrote: »

Dr.Rieux and Heidi, can you have a look at your browser history.

What is the first redirect page after whatever forum you were on? Was it similar to mine? daterex.com

Looked there, badoink and one strangely called cartoontube. Didn't see daterex. There was about 8 redirects bouncing between those two.

r93kaey5p2izun

I've been redirected 4 times now to a porn site called "getting laid today dot com" (no spaces obviously). It's happened over the last 3 days. Opens on a full page pic of a naked woman. I'm using Galaxy S3, stock browser. Never visited any porn or dodgy websites so baffled by this. Avast detects nothing. Everytime I clicked back or typed a new address it just continued to redirect - had to close browser to get rid.

At first I thought maybe I had accidentally clicked on an ad but then it happened again. It has happened when clicking into forums (Teaching, Dublin City and Christmas) rather than into specific threads. Cleared cache, history, cookies etc but happened again.

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

Hi boards reps, any update on what the problem might be? Thanks!

Dr.Rieux

Just got the Samantha chat bit again going onto Cool vids, pics and links. Using iPad 2 running the latest iOS.

Dav

We're looking through this, but it's unfortunately slow and slightly tedious work. I'm sorry I don't have a better update for you all, but it is getting a lot of Dev time.

HeidiHeidi

Another invite from the lovely Samantha just now.

Was clicking into this thread http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?p=93423361#post93423361

Odelay

Had the samantha thing plently of times. Just now while opening one of my followed threads it opened straight into a porn chat site.
Dav, pm me if you need to know the name of the web site, it that doesnt sound too pervy!

HeidiHeidi

Another charming selection of porn sites on my android tablet when I tried to enlarge the page of a thread just now.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055173575

Definitely didn't click on any link or button.

Do you still want us reporting when this happens?

ct5amr2ig1nfhp

I wonder why more people aren't seeing this issue? It has me worried that I may have malware of some sort on my android.

I haven't installed any new apps in a while but I do update them regularly.

HeidiHeidi

Dwayne Scary Supplement wrote: »

I wonder why more people aren't seeing this issue? It has me worried that I may have malware of some sort on my android.

I haven't installed any new apps in a while but I do update them regularly.

I haven't installed any apps in literally a couple of years. The ones that are on the tablet update automatically.

I did get Samantha on my laptop at one point, but most of my experiences with her and her porn friends are on the tablet, and not the result of clicking on links.

Boards.ie: Niamh

HeidiHeidi wrote: »

Another charming selection of porn sites on my android tablet when I tried to enlarge the page of a thread just now.

http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055173575

Definitely didn't click on any link or button.

Do you still want us reporting when this happens?

Yes please do keep reporting here with as much detail as possible, we're doing all we can to find it and get rid of it but the more info we have, the better. Thank you.

Dav

We have several people who work on Ad management for all of the sites in the group and they're baffled as to where this is coming from and need to report as much info to Google so they can figure out why its happening.

Our best guess at the moment is some sort of exploit that works on Google's tech when it hits up the local devices, rather than something on the devices themselves, but we're still trying to get a solid reason why its happening.

Thank you everyone for your patience and help, we're just as keen to be rid of Samantha as you are.