Spotify apologises for malware infected ads
Drive-by virus attacks users of the free service
If you ever needed a good reason to upgrade to Spotify Premium, the fact that the free version was hit by malware-infected adverts should be all the motivation that you need.
On Thursday 24th March and Friday 25th March 2011, Windows users of the free version of Spotify in the UK, France and Spain were targeted by an advert that contained a virus. According to Netcraft, it was drive-by malware with AVG detecting a Trojan and AVG detecting a Blackhole Exploit Kit.
As soon as it was notified of the threat, Spotify took down all adverts on the free version until it had identified the source. The company then apologised on its website with a brief statement.
“We sincerely apologise to any users affected. We’ll continue working hard to ensure this does not happen again and that our users enjoy Spotify securely and in confidence,” read the statement.
Spotify also provided a link to Anti-Malvertising.com to help people with infected computers remove the threat.
It’s the first time that the company has been hit by infected adverts, and only members of the free service would have been infected – those that pay for the service get it ad-free. Upgrading to Spotify Premium also confers other benefits, such as the ability to play songs on a mobile device, as well as on other devices, such as the recently announced Onkyo home cinema receiver deal.
