I’m seeing Trojan:JS/Flafisi.D detections and Tech Support Scams on the Edge browser Start page

Anonymous
2018-02-28T16:36:56+00:00

Update: A member of Microsoft's MSN Engineering Team (RodrigoLode(MSFT) has responded to acknowledge the malvertising issues associated with MSN portal. They have also requested ***" If anyone is still experiencing this, please reply here."***For more specifics on information requested please refer to the reply from Rodrigo at the following link:

https://answers.microsoft.com/en-us/protect/forum/protect_defender-protect_scanning-windows_10/im-seeing-trojanjsflafisid-detections-and-tech/8fbe8eaf-1af0-4e76-9ab0-57828f631a5f?page=7&messageId=3661a31c-2019-4808-a88b-283919038cc1

In addition to reporting the fake pop-ups themselves I would advise that you take note if there is a significant loss of performance on computer after encountering, in particular, the fake Adobe Flash Player update. If things seem sluggish you may have been subject to one of the more prevalent malicious activities known as crypto-mining/coin mining.

Invisible resource thieves: The increasing threat of cryptocurrency miners

https://cloudblogs.microsoft.com/microsoftsecure/2018/03/13/invisible-resource-thieves-the-increasing-threat-of-cryptocurrency-miners/

Especially important to report these occurrences or any other odd behaviors after using MSN website.

Moderator Edit: Provided update.

Just reading the “Comey trolls Trump” article on the Edge Start page and this pops up:

 This one was easy to handle because it was just the old-fashioned dialog loop based scam:

– but what’s coming next Microsoft?

GreginMich

[Original Title: Surprised again]

Windows for home | Windows 10 | Security and privacy

Locked Question. This question was migrated from the Microsoft Support Community. You can vote on whether it's helpful, but you can't add comments or replies or follow the question.

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  1. Rob Koch 26,075 Reputation points Volunteer Moderator
    2018-08-13T02:56:48+00:00

    After DAILY having to deal with support scam pop ups getting past my Windows Defender while using a Windows 8.1 operating system, I finally switched to Windows 10.  The very first day my wife was on line, the support scam popped up again.  Windows Defender is USELESS in defending our computer from these attacks.

    Yes Thomas, that's because most of these are simply browser popups and nothing more, so there's no malware present for Defender or any other AV or antimalware app to detect.  You might personally consider these "malicious", but in reality they're just text and HTML screen formatting attempting to catch the stupid and uninformed.

    Since the most common method the malicious actors use today in order to deliver these is via advertising networks and browser redirection, the top methods for blocking them involve the use of advertising blockers or privacy settings within the browser or Windows itself.

    As Microsoft and the app developers have closed the door on most direct attack vectors such as vulnerabilities within the operating system and apps, the malicious actors had moved first to directly invoking popups within the browsers and then to this current redirection delivered via ad networks.  Only the impending end of desktop Windows itself holds some promise that most of these attacks will eventually end, since its the multitude of vulnerabilities and legacy code that still exists that continues to enable this never-ending arms race.

    I personally never receive any of these popups myself unless I purposefully browse the darker corners of the Internet in an attempt to experience them.  That's due to the fact that I chose relatively excessive Privacy settings in both the Edge and IE11 bowsers, as well as Windows 8.1 and 10 within days of initially buying or installing the Windows upgrades to these systems.

    Ad blockers and other programmatic attempts at stopping these attacks as simply playing with fire, good privacy settings just dump cold water on the match before the fire can be lit.

    Rob

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  2. Anonymous
    2018-08-13T02:06:13+00:00

    Yup. That's why you need to set your Ransomware Protection:

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  3. Anonymous
    2018-08-12T23:11:42+00:00

    After DAILY having to deal with support scam pop ups getting past my Windows Defender while using a Windows 8.1 operating system, I finally switched to Windows 10.  The very first day my wife was on line, the support scam popped up again.  Windows Defender is USELESS in defending our computer from these attacks.

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  4. Anonymous
    2018-08-12T14:52:33+00:00

    what is not working?

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  5. Anonymous
    2018-08-12T14:51:25+00:00

    Besides which I thought we were talking about Trojan:JS/Flafisi.D. (not ads in general)

    It blocks that alright. 

    this is not warking

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