Yes, you have probably read it before on different news sites and blogs. An ad on MySpace spread spyware. As reports have mentioned, the banner ad was the one used to spread it. For Windows users who did not get the patches, they were affected by it as it was a WMF vulnerability that was exploited. Average computer users would probably be the ones who were greatly affected by this and they probably did not even notice anything.
There are articles that even mention the other browser, which is Mozilla Firefox. They said that those who use it were probably not affected by it unless the user downloaded the WMF file and opened it on their computers that are running on Windows. It is mainly something that affects Windows users who browse using Internet Explorer.
Things like this incident make the IT department of different companies become more wary, hence banning of more sites if they lean towards paranoia. In the first place, when there are patches released, they are the ones who should take charge and informing others about it. Or they should take the initiative to handle it. Also, users must be more aware of these matters. Security patches are not released without any reason. In this age where computer users are very much connected to one another via the Internet, incidents like this one could happen very often. As the adage goes, an ounce of prevention is better than a pound of cure. Have you checked if you have been able to patch up your Windows machine? If not, get those patches now!
[tags]myspace,windows,spyware[/tags]