Webcomic virus alerts

Mangapark told me that it had a virus last few times I went there. Don't know if the warning was actually real or not, though.

(checks) I'm pretty sure scanlation sites do not fall under what this thread covers.

Well scanlation and manga hosting is a really grey area (not webcomics per se but online storage of manga therefore it can land onto web manga format) that I am not willing to cover but I guess that a warning is a warning.

I mean some IS Ps can be actively damaging some online hosts for A or B reason.

For anyone checking Full Frontal Nerdity and PS238, note that Nodwick is clean but undersized in the pics to no end (so you might want to go and put "view full picture" for every comic page). Thing is that if you see the "Bad Behavior" link down there just don't click it. It can only end in tears as confirmed by the users of the site.

It's not really a gray area for a lot of them, given that they include all the manga that is licensed and is officially spread in US, including digitally.

The reason on why I said it is a grey area is that this topic is on webcomic sites not manga hosting sites nor scanlation sites either. However a virus warning is important to note, which is why I went onto the grey area note itself fast.

On the whole issue of the legality due to distribution in the USA and not in another countries... I'd rather not go into deep but I'll just say that that is for another topic. Since it can devolve outside what is meant in the original intent of this topic which is warning which sites are actively under virus/rogue ads.

Edit: However I forgot to add before this edit: A warning on the virus is a warning and is something that comes by... I guess that in the end, we might end up having to create a topic around that in the proper forum section (Manga and Anime) instead of coming here to discuss the viruses on scanlation or manga hosting per se here.

Given that the "Manga and Anime" section doesn't have one, there should be one sticky created just to avoid this happening again. My guess is that cake1 came and left the warning here because we actually are discussing which sites are with viruses or malware in a proper topic that the "Manga and Anime" section is lacking.

I really hope I have not forgotten to add anything related to the matter.

On another note: Is anyone else having trouble connecting to The Duck? Asking because last times I had some decent delays in the load.

Edit on the first of march: Got an idea why don't we put the virus & malware alerts in a list form in the first post so the users will have it up to date as is without drudging through the topic?

Also anyone knows which of the threats warned here are still active?

edited 1st Mar '16 2:34:47 PM by Mauri

There's currently a redirecting ad on Sinfest, beware.

I noticed today that the works page for Mystery Babylon has a note saying that the website has "severe malware problems". However, I've visited the site recently without problem; and according to the edit history, the edit adding the warning was made all the way back in 2012.

Is it appropriate to include such warnings on works pages, given that malware can come and go?

It's a fair thing, as long as people update the page when necessary. Which, considering I'm the one who added the warning back then, makes it clear I haven't. So yeah, mea culpa.

I'll remove the warning.

Wow, been a while since I had a use for this thread.

The webcomic Sire (hosted on SmackJeeves) has apparently had its site been completely hijacked by some form of strange malware, which is apparently trying to get people to click on links. Do not visit that comic's site, at least for the time being.

If you accessed the website for Exiern overnight on the 20th (of March), you may want to have your antivirus scan your computer. It was hacked to redirect to another website (it has since been fixed by turning it into a redirect to the Patreon for the comic).

Well been a while since I touched but it seems that the case in Full Frontal Nerdity has been removed.

Pardon the use of this without a mere edit but better late than never, the lists to help sum it up:

• Webcomics with Active Virus threats:
  • Goblins

  • Comic Genesis host seems to be infected

  • Chasing the Sunset - script injection in the comments

  • Misfile - someone confirm

  • Dumbing of Age - XSS attack

  • Something Positive Stop Badware.com warning
  • Girls with Slingshots Stop Badware.com warning
  • Any webcomic inside Blind Ferret

  • Giselle Lagace's - Chrome Alerts

  • Questionable Content - non confirmed type

  • Our Little Adventure - 27 trojans

  • The Pocalypse - periodical attacks

  • Smack Jeeves - hijackers

  • Ménagè a 3 - malware and virus

  • Comics Curmudgeon - forcing an .exe

  • Atomic Robo - Rogue Ad

  • Sinfest - redirecting Ad

  • Sire - Smackjeeves - malware

• Webcomics that have cleared their threats:
  • Full Frontal Nerdity PS 238 and Nodwick - Bad Behavior link - cleared

For anything else it is better to keep the list properly maintained.

Are these bad ads doing all this, it is there malicious software in the code of the sites?

I compiled the list but there is this detail someone has to confirm at some point which links are dirty at any point and which have cleared their problems.

Some ads have some code injection which does that and given that some of the injected code can lead to a nasty malware or virus rash it is better to be aware. Some do these during the "please wait before continuing to main site" calls as well as other situations... Which can lead to some sad times since you can be onto liking a comic but stop because of the rash you got.

It could be a technical call in some situations but one big RED FLAG is a redirecting call on the site. Specially when not clicking on any links.

Devious Tangents (devioustangents.com) is currently requiring one to accept notifications to continue, after a very suspicious redirect. Could be this is benign. I don't trust clicking through on Accept.

Edited by FuzzyBoots on Sep 18th 2019 at 8:59:34 AM

What's Normal Anyway? redirects to a pharmacy, at least when you google it. I don't think there's a malware risk but I kept on being taken to a pharmacy page.

Edited by Pichu-kun on Feb 15th 2020 at 1:57:52 AM

The official link to that webcomic is: http://whatsnormalanyway.net

Google de-prioritizes regular HTTP websites and the comic's also been published in book form, this makes the original webcomic rank much lower in the Google results.

Huh, for me the google feeds a ton of links about a song with the same name. YT uploads, lyrics, translations, etc

Ah that happened to me too, I automatically add a keyword if that happens. Still if I searched for:

I'd get the book and not the website, and on page two there's a link to a malicious .net site.

Is The Petri Dish OK? It's my fave webcomic, so I hope nothing's happened to it.

Could you describe what's going on? I'd rather not click the website in case it's got a virus or something.

Nothing's going on. I just want to be safe.

What prompted you to ask then?

I'm just a very cautious person. Also I don't know what the "symptoms" of a computer virus are, so for all I know, there might be a few "asymptomatic carriers".

AFAICT, what prompted Unicorndance to ask was noticing this thread exists.