Good morning!
We have received several reports this morning that an ad served through IZEA Media has been reported as an attack site.
We are currently researching our network partners in conjunction with Google Tech to ensure that whatever Advertiser is serving the Malware is removed. We believe the steps we have taken have already resolved the issue on our end and now we are just waiting for Google to confirm the removal of the offending party.
We apologize for any inconvenience this warning may have caused. Our primary goal is to ensure the IZEA Media network is safe and we take any possible attack on our services and Influencers very seriously.
UPDATE FROM IZEA CEO, TED MURPHY:
Our team has been working diligently to resolve this problem. We have determined that the ad was not served by any direct IZEA client, but rather through a well-known partner network that we use to backfill some inventory.
We have removed all third party networks except Google for the time being. We are working to clear this alert on our end, but we do suggest you look at all third party networks. I apologize for this issue. Clearly the partner network did not intend to let this slip through, but it certainly is a “pain in the arse” as noted below.
-Ted
Tags: IZEA Media, Making your system safe, Malware, social spark
Justin Germino said on 9.21.12 at 3:55 pm
This explains why my sites may be under the same issue, but I think it is more broad and global, when doing some digging I found the following:
What happened when Google visited sites hosted on this network?
Of the 253180 site(s) we tested on this network over the past 90 days, 10712 site(s) served content that resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent.
It looks like anything hosted in the subnet on the same hosted domain as my server is being impacted, not sure if many of those fellow sites also used SocialSpark ads, but this would appear to be bigger than just an IZEAMedia ad issue.
BenSpark said on 9.21.12 at 4:05 pm
This happened to my blog today. I hope that IZEA can help me rectify this.
Justin Germino said on 9.21.12 at 4:09 pm
I have found about a dozen other blogs having same issue, all used IZEA Media Ads so I definitely think it's related, but just removing IZEA Media Ads doesn't clear the issue, still requires a site review/reconsideration request, wondering if site by site or one broad one from IZEA will cover?
Victor Salazar said on 9.21.12 at 4:18 pm
I also run the IZEA Media Ads on my site and I noticed that I was hit with the malware warning shortly after the Bitdefender post was published. I don't kow if it was a coincidence but if the ads displayed are triggered by web page content, I would start looking at those ads triggered by antivirus posts.
Justin Germino said on 9.21.12 at 4:24 pm
The key is, because your /wp-admin also displays the error, it isn't like a typical infected malware issue, the whole domain is flagged because of subdomain match, this means it may require reconsideration requests from every blogger with Google to resolve, what a pain!
Jennifer said on 9.21.12 at 4:44 pm
I too was affected by this and it is a major pain in the arse!
Pam Maynard said on 9.21.12 at 4:44 pm
My site is affected too, the whole thing. No one can access it. what is IZEA doing to rectify this?
Henrietta said on 9.21.12 at 4:56 pm
I was hit with this today and I am so upset about it!
Brittany said on 9.21.12 at 5:01 pm
I was affected and went ahead and pulled my Izea ads to be safe.
amiable amy said on 9.21.12 at 5:10 pm
One of my blogs was infected too and I am so frustrated right now.
Malia said on 9.21.12 at 5:17 pm
So, how do we fix this? I've been told when people try to visit my site through Facebook they are getting the warning!
Henrietta said on 9.21.12 at 5:19 pm
I would love to know how to fix this as well. I removed the ads but of course, my site is still showing as infected! As Justin said, the Malware warning shows not only on the blog but on my admin and cpanel as well!
Victor Salazar said on 9.21.12 at 5:32 pm
IZEA Media Ads was a 2 part code. One went in your html template code and the other went to display the ad at the spot of your choosing. Should we remove both snippets of code?
Connie Seattle Mom Blogger said on 9.21.12 at 5:37 pm
Thank you for addressing this so quickly. While I also got the warning on my site I've check my Google Webmaster Tools and my site has not be blocked by Google.
Erin said on 9.21.12 at 5:41 pm
My blog was affected too! I've been working feverishly all day to try to find the source and it must be this. How on earth do I get rid of the Google block? Needless to say, I am not a happy camper!
Susan said on 9.21.12 at 5:50 pm
Thank you! I had been trying to figure out the cause and narrowed it down to the ads with the help of other bloggers. I took the ads down and hope you get official confirmation soon from google.
Brett said on 9.21.12 at 5:51 pm
i'm affected as well. frustrating.
Corry said on 9.21.12 at 5:55 pm
I am troubled with it as well, although it doesn't block the site constantly. I figured out it only is when one particular add is displayed, but I don't know which one it is. I hope it will be fixed soon!
BenSpark said on 9.21.12 at 5:55 pm
I removed both code snippets. I am still affected by this issue.
Dawn said on 9.21.12 at 6:12 pm
I removed my ads until the issue is resolved. Thanks for working on it.
Dawn
www.cheapisthenewclassy.com
Erin said on 9.21.12 at 6:18 pm
Although I've removed the ads, readers are still getting a big read box when they try to view my site, telling them it is restricted. Also, in google search under my blog title it says "this site may harm your computer." How on earth do I get rid of all of that and get things back to normal?
Erin said on 9.21.12 at 6:18 pm
*Red box
amiable amy said on 9.21.12 at 6:19 pm
This is the summary for this specific post:
http://fooddelightsandetcetera.blogspot.com/2012/09/haverty-furniture.html
Last checked: September 20, 2012
When Google last tested this page, your server returned content that directed the browser to a site that serves malware. Unfortunately, Google could not isolate the malicious code within this page. We recommend you check your source code for any unauthorized changes and reference our guidelines for cleaning your site and requesting a review.
I hope this will be fixed soon.
Beeb Ashcroft said on 9.21.12 at 6:35 pm
For those who have asked, I removed just one code snippet (The one which goes into your theme in the spot where you wish for the ad to display) and then requested a review through Google Webmaster Tools. After a few hours, they reviewed it and marked my site as clean. Google has advised that it could take a while for this update to propagate in search results - as of 11:33 AM PST, there is still a "This Site May Harm Your Computer" warning next to my URL in Google search results, but I can access my page itself through the direct URL without browser warnings now. Hope that helps!
Tonia@thegunnysack said on 9.21.12 at 6:49 pm
I've removed and disabled the IZEA ad from my site. I'm not sure how to remove the "code snippet".
Will Johnson said on 9.21.12 at 6:49 pm
I can't believe it came from this. I just realized after analyzing every bit of code on the site.
Our site is a massive one which has a huge amount of traffic that just plummeted and it's our main money site. Google has blacklisted us so we've lost our Google News and Google images plus all of our links listed on Google states that our site might harm your computer.
For those of us that make a serious living off our sites, this is a massive hit as it definitely makes visitors nervous to come back.
I would assume that Izea will lend a hand in getting all of our sites that are now blacklisted fixed.
Melissa Cleaver said on 9.21.12 at 6:53 pm
After a mess-up of this magnitude, it's definitely safe to say that I've taken down the IZEA ads PERMANENTLY.
Will Johnson said on 9.21.12 at 7:30 pm
Hey,
Has anyone else on here been blacklisted by Google from this? I don't know if it was because we're on Google News but we've never had any site issues with the big G before and another admin informed me that no one else has had their site blocked from this mess.
Thanks!
Bellesouth said on 9.21.12 at 7:31 pm
Thanks for addressing this! I've disabled my IZEA unit until it's resolved.
carribright said on 9.21.12 at 7:32 pm
Hi Everyone,
We understand your frustration as we are experiencing the same issues with our own operated sites as you are with your blog.
We have already submitted a request to Google to have the malware warning diagnostically checked now that the offending ad network has been removed.
In the meantime you can submit your own check by going to https://www.google.com/webmasters/tools which may speed up the process of having the message removed.
Please keep in mind that the offending ad network has been removed and there is no threat to your blog but the diagnostic check to be reviewed by Google can take a while to complete with a network as large as ours.
All the Best,
Carri
Will Johnson said on 9.21.12 at 7:36 pm
For some reason my comments aren't showing up on here either. Hopefully this one gets through.
I'm just seeing if anyone else got on the Google blacklist from this. An admin told me that no one else, and I can't believe my site would be the only one.
I just checked and saw that even draggonblogger is blacklisted too.
Will said on 9.21.12 at 7:45 pm
Thanks for the update Carri.
My big question is just that what happens if Google takes a long long time for all of our sites that got Blacklisted. I saw on her that even DragonBlogger is on the big blacklist.
Our site is on Google News and we've lost all of our indexing there and even Google Images which has made our visitors plummet today.
I understand it's a pain in the butt for you all, but many of us just want to make sure that this won't happen again. I know when I go to a site that has that big scary red warning, I'm usually not apt to go back so it's definitely going to bump down traffic for most of us.
Thanks again for the updates!
Julia Young said on 9.21.12 at 7:54 pm
Yes, my site was affected also!!! I have very upset readers and may have lost some permenantly! I am not a happy camper!
Will said on 9.21.12 at 8:00 pm
Hey Julia,
I see you got blacklisted too. I had e-mailed Izea media about my site getting the blacklist, but they told me no one had that happen. I checked and see that many of the people on here have been and let them know.
For many of us who actually make an income on our sites that ran the ads this is a major hit today. When I checked on the forums on Google, it appears that it can take more than just one day to get off the blacklist.
I don't know if you've noticed but if you look at all your indexed links, they come with a warning that states 'This site may harm your computer'.
It sucks that the big red scary box is there, but now anything that our sites come up for in searches on Google have that warning also. Now who's really going to click on that?
Erin said on 9.21.12 at 8:15 pm
Will,
The same thing happened to me. I've lost lots of ad revenue today and my pageviews obviously took a major hit. I have campaigns and sponsored posts coming up in the next few days, so this is obviously way more than a minor inconvenience. I've requested a review from Google but it's taking a while and I haven't heard back yet. As of right now, readers are still getting the "Reported Attack Page!" big red box when they visit, and in google search it still says that my site can harm your computer.
Will said on 9.21.12 at 8:20 pm
Hey Erin,
I was a little surprised at the response from the IZEA person when they tried to tell me my site being blacklisted was from a previous problem I must have had.
That was a little surprising since this is an issue caused from one of the ads on this service. I've usually had a great response with any questions from here so that was a bit shocking. It made me wonder if all of us aren't able to get un-blacklisted for several days that we'll be pretty much on our own.
I was also told in the e-mail that: The warning also only appears through Chrome, if users are visiting your site through Firefox, Safari, or IE they should not experience the warning.
That also turned out not true as plenty of visitors have e-mailed letting us know that it's showing up on FF, Safari and IE. Finger crossed Izea will help if any of us are still blacklisted after they get their fixed.
Erin said on 9.21.12 at 8:25 pm
The issue is definitely not just through Chrome. I've had readers report that the problem is happening on several different browsers. And the problem is definitely through IZEA - this just happened within the last 24 hours and I've never had a problem like this before, ever.
I definitely suspect this will not be resolved in less than a day. I've waited all day for the review from Google and still haven't heard anything. Definitely hoping IZEA will help in any way they are able to. At this point, the damage is probably done and it is out of IZEA's hands now. I guess now it's something Google will have to fix for us from their end, but hopefully if IZEA is able to get some "pull" with Google somehow, this will happen as quickly as possible.
Erin said on 9.21.12 at 8:26 pm
I should also point out that I am personally getting the red box "attack page" message when I visit my site in Firefox AND Internet Explorer.
Henrietta said on 9.21.12 at 8:30 pm
I have lost out on revenue and a days worth of work trying to get this resolved. I have a big event that is coming to an end on Monday and this is really not how I wanted to send it off as I was hoping for a final push this weekend! My sponsors will not be pleased, I'm sure :(. I also have campaigns and posts coming up, it is really upsetting that my site is still blacklisted and there is nothing I can do about it except wait.
Will said on 9.21.12 at 8:32 pm
you might also try going through stopbadware dot org
they will review your site too and then once passed let Google know that it's all clean. just might help to have another source pushing for you.
Google and most of the other search engines rely on this site heavily so it's got some pull!
Erin said on 9.21.12 at 8:34 pm
Will,
I did submit a request through stopbadware also. Hopefully something will happen soon!
Jenny said on 9.21.12 at 8:54 pm
I have been dealing with this for nearly 8 hours now, with emails from Izea back and forth. Not even an apology. It seems as though Izea is trying to brush this off, but guess what Izea?
THIS IS A BIG DEAL. To all of us.
You are making ME look bad. My site is now blacklisted by Google because of YOU.
I requested reconsideration through google 8 HOURS AGO and I still have the big ole red OMG VIRUS alert when anyone visits my page.
So thanks, Izea. Thanks for the big pile of poo you dumped on me this morning.
Erin said on 9.21.12 at 8:59 pm
Jenny,
It is my understanding that the reconsideration request will not solve this problem. You have to actually request a review from Google. It took a long time for the box to even pop up on my dashboard to request a review, but it finally did. If you go to google.com/webmasters/tools, then click on your URL, then Health/then Malware, you should see a box that says "Request a Review." Do this after you've removed any badware (I just removed all the IZEA code). You can also request a review from stopbadware dot org. I did both since I wasn't sure which would work faster.
Erin said on 9.21.12 at 9:02 pm
Oh and this has been an issue for my blog since last night. I wasn't aware of it until I woke up this morning and a few of my fellow bloggers clued me in, then I visited my site and saw it for myself.
IZEA: You should probably send out an email or something to all of your users in case they don't check this site daily, so they will know this is the source in case they are dealing with this issue too. The only reason I finally figured out it was from IZEA was because a fellow blogger pointed me to this forum and then it finally all made sense. I spent hours searching through code and I could've saved a lot of time if I had known about this earlier.
carribright said on 9.21.12 at 9:08 pm
Thanks for the feedback that this is not just being shown when viewed in Chrome. We wanted to get a post up as soon as possible after learning of this (and had salient information to provide) but obviously, pertinent facts continue to surface along the way. I will update the post.
All the Best,
Carri
Will said on 9.21.12 at 9:13 pm
Good point Erin! I had no clue it was coming from this and had my webmasters combing through everything and then even hired additional help to figure out what was going on.
I only found this after checking my ad numbers and then saw the blog post. If I'd know earlier today, it would have saved a lot of wasted time and money.
JENNY: I was rather surprised at the tone in the e-mails too. After I pointed out that many users were being blacklisted after being told it must be my fault for it happening, the tone has been very clipped. They even went so far to let me know that over 10,000 sites were affected today. For each of us, that doesn't make us feel any better since it only makes it look much worse.
My web guru found that admaxstat seems to be doing something that has caused the issue too, and many sites that had an ad that ran through them aren't getting the Review Request button on Google Webmaster Tools.
In his own words. "admaxstat .com" was registered less than two months ago. It's homepage is clean and the only URL on "admaxstat .com" that I found was "admaxstat dot com/IZEA" (currently has JavaScript with a legitimate link). This means that either this site was created specifically to distribute malware via ad networks or it was hacked and its ads contained malware. Either way, your ad company distributed malware from "admaxstat dot com" for some (hopefully) short period. Nonetheless, Google has blocked about 40 domains because of this."
Fingers crossed we all get un-blacklisted today!
Will said on 9.21.12 at 9:14 pm
Thanks Carri, I know you get the brunt when things go awry, but we so appreciate your feedback and updates!
Jenny said on 9.21.12 at 9:14 pm
@Erin Unfortunately I do not have a "request a review" button in Google Webmaster Tools and my site has been blacklisted by Google for about 9 hours now.
I also requested the review from stopbadware dot org about 9 hours ago as well (when the Izea code was removed).
I figured out it was the Izea code this morning, but didn't even learn of this blog post until a few hours ago. Izea definitely needs to send out an email about this. Man up!
Erin said on 9.21.12 at 9:18 pm
Will,
It took most of the day before the "Request a Review" button showed up on my dashboard. I spent hours trying to figure out how on earth I was going to get Google to review my blog since everyone was telling me to click on that button that didn't exist. It finally appeared a couple hours ago.
In the meantime, for those of you who don't have the button on your dashboard, you can request a review from stopbadware dot org as mentioned above. But keep an eye on your dashboard for that button to eventually appear.
Jenny said on 9.21.12 at 9:18 pm
@Will They were indeed rude, non-apologetic, and unsympathetic via email. My "malicious" code notification was related to admaxstat as well. I also do not have a "Review Request" button.
Erin said on 9.21.12 at 9:19 pm
Jenny,
Just saw your post. Keep checking your dashboard and hopefully that button will appear. If it doesn't, the stopbadware review can be your backup.
Jenny said on 9.21.12 at 9:20 pm
My site went from bad to worse.
It used to say that suspicious activity has happened 0 times in the past 90 days. It also said 0 pages were affected. Now, 9 hours later, I have:
Site is listed as suspicious - visiting this web site may harm your computer.
Part of this site was listed for suspicious activity 4 time(s) over the past 90 days.
Of the 32 pages we tested on the site over the past 90 days, 5 page(s) resulted in malicious software being downloaded and installed without user consent. The last time Google visited this site was on 2012-09-21, and the last time suspicious content was found on this site was on 2012-09-21.
(sigh)
Abby Billings said on 9.21.12 at 9:24 pm
I had a similar problem with Post Genius just recently and had to discontinue service with them. As annoying as this problem is I will say I'm at least glad that I see someone from Izea on here commenting that they are looking into resolving the issue and trying to solve the problem, which is more than I can say for Post Genius. I had to remove all coding from that service to solve that issue. While it's back to square one with this, it seems this issue may be going through a few different services.
Rebecca said on 9.21.12 at 9:31 pm
I saw this last week, hours before I left on vacation. I didn't know it was a problem with IZEA ads specifically, but I suspected it so because I had *just* installed the ads on my websites and then the warnings came. When I saw the dreaded "red box" in the IZEA ad frame, that's when I knew. I was actually relieved that my blogs weren't hacked again.
Stuff like this happens. It shouldn't, and Google shouldn't have so much control over our sites, but it is what it is. Glad to see IZEA isolate the problem and take immediate action. Good going!
Will said on 9.21.12 at 9:35 pm
Another question is once we get off the blacklist do we get all our indexed links back? Especially those of us on Google News?
Jenny: The longer we have the blacklist, the more issues they'll list as cropping up as the crawlers report back all the times they went over your site before the ad code was either taken off or fixed on IZEA's end.
I would think that with this many sites getting hit, Google will see that it's not their fault and move things along...hopefully.
Victor Salazar said on 9.21.12 at 9:37 pm
After removing the code, request a review of your webpages by https://www.stopbadware.org/. I removed both snippets IZEA Media Ad code and requested a review from StopBadWare. After about an hour or so, the "big red screen" has been removed and I can access my site without a hitch.
Will said on 9.21.12 at 9:38 pm
Wait a minute...
REBECCA: So this happened with IZEA ads last week too???
That's weird since today they seem to act like it's the first time this has happened for them.
Maria said on 9.21.12 at 10:06 pm
I have yet to see a warning in my site but others have told me there was one. When someone clicks on my site, someone else's website shows up as a possible threat in the red box. Why their site? Why is it showing in my site. I have a social spark account but have never a post for them & have no ads on my site. I did have the badge at one point but I deleted that awhile ago since I do not use social spark. I have 900 points, that was prov from referrals when I had the badge?!?!
I submitted for a google reconsideration review but what codes if any would I need to remove? My site hasn't even been verified by social spark do why would I even be effected?
Jenny said on 9.21.12 at 10:20 pm
@Maria that means you have a hotlinked image to a flagged site, meaning, you have an image (that's not hosted on your site) displaying on your site. Save the image(s) to your computer and then upload to your site, replacing the hotlinked image(s).
Erin said on 9.21.12 at 10:20 pm
Maria,
Did you link to another site that may use IZEA ads? That could be the problem.
Google: Your Site Contains Malware; Me: Umm What?! My IZEA Malware Story. | Freebie Spot said on 9.21.12 at 10:21 pm
[...] IZEA Media (9/21/12 1:25pm): Every other blogger that removed the ad tag has not had the malware warning once the ad tag has been removed. It is possible one of your other ad tags is hosting the malware as well. (which is a lie, see this blog post at IZEA) [...]
Jenny said on 9.21.12 at 10:27 pm
I just noticed that in my email conversation with Izea, she said "Every other blogger that removed the ad tag has not had the malware warning once the ad tag has been removed. It is possible one of your other ad tags is hosting the malware as well."
UMM WRONG.
I can visit ANY site in this thread, and even if they have removed Izea from their sites, it is still reported as an attack site.
Read my IZEA malware story including my entire conversation with IZEA at http://bit.ly/Sg5Mvp (and yes it is safe to proceed to my site since you will see the big, ugly, red box).
Will said on 9.21.12 at 10:44 pm
Hey JENNNY:
After reading your article, I see we were speaking with the same person. Funny enough, I had e-mailed them last night about adding one of our sub-domains with their ad code and at 9:03 AM they knew there was a problem as this shows:
"We're having issues with our ad tags today so I suggest holding off until Monday to place these live while our server works out the issues."
And at 2:00 PM was when they said that no sites had been blacklisted due to this but on your timeline, it's a different story.
For me, if there's an issue, just say it and move on rather than saying one thing and then getting irritate when we point out that it wasn't quite accurate.
Thankfully this is the only major issue I've had with SS and have had plenty of good opps and ad traffic, but I wish Evan was around today as he/she was always a pleasure to work with and made sure to really help out with no attitude.
Erin said on 9.21.12 at 10:45 pm
Um, yeah that's clearly wrong. I don't know who is answering IZEA's emails but they are misinformed.
Jenny said on 9.21.12 at 10:48 pm
@Will If it helps you sort the timeline better, all times posted on my article are in ET.
And I agree completely. Admit the issue, take care of it, and your customers will be happy.
They really need to send out an email. Think of all the sites out there who have no idea why their sites have a malware warning. :(
Erin said on 9.21.12 at 10:53 pm
I just received a response on the stopbadware dot org forum and they said it will take 12-24 hours for Google to review my site for removal of restrictions IF the malware is in fact removed. (Which I'm hoping that removal of the IZEA code accomplished.) Thank goodness it's the beginning of the weekend but let's hope this is solved asap!
Justin Germino said on 9.21.12 at 10:57 pm
Still have no resolution after 8 hours, but know the cause and just waiting. To let everyone else know I had the same problem with a rogue BuySellAds Ad previously, so this happens when Advertisers buy specific ad slots.
Some sites that auto approve ads catch them early, but since advertiser sites can be infected after they purchase ads, it can happen post approval as well.
Removing the IZEA code does not rectify the problem, a re-review is needed.
Will said on 9.21.12 at 10:58 pm
My timeline is Central so still just as bad.
Just got a message back from my web guy after submitting for Review Request on Google.
After submitting the Review Request it's then a 10 - 72 hour wait to see if they're happy with your site. Then it can be another 24-48 hour wait for all your indexed links to show again. Right now they've pulled Google Images and News but left the Videos and regular links with that nasty warning.
Here's their response.
"Thank you for your reconsideration request. Your site will be evaluated to determine if it meets our webmaster guidelines. This process can take some time."
This process usually takes from 10 to 72 hours to be processed on their end."
Jenny, I hadn't even thought about the people who hotlink images. Our site is a huge entertainment new with over half a million images....
Erin said on 9.21.12 at 11:03 pm
Justin,
Removing the IZEA code did fix the underlying problem for me. Google is no longer detecting malware on my site according to my webmaster tools dashboard. However, you are correct, it did not fix the consequence of the problem (Google Restrictions). The scary red box telling people to stay away from my site will stay up until Google reviews my site and decides to take it down.
tonygreene113 @ 113tidbits said on 9.21.12 at 11:06 pm
Thanks for pointing me toward this. I think that IZEA should be a bit more diligent in getting id of this problem. I've removed all of their code until a solution comes through.
Justin...great catch!!
Will said on 9.21.12 at 11:12 pm
Well that's some good new Erin...progress wise! I've still got the malware warning, but good to know some things are happening!
What sucks is we lost a page takeover opportunity for Frankeweenie because the ad dept handling that account just hit the big scary red box warning.
That's massive hit in income for next month.
Erin said on 9.21.12 at 11:14 pm
Will,
My warning just went away a few minutes ago. I removed the code hours ago. I guess it all just takes time. Unfortunately, time is money! Sorry to hear that you lost an opportunity. I know this seemingly small mishap has big effects on all of us. Very frustrating!
Da Vinci said on 9.21.12 at 11:19 pm
My site got infected also but I used a plugin for malware immediately and it seemed to do the trick. You can try this one http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/gotmls/
I'm hoping no other issues arise.
Henrietta said on 9.22.12 at 12:11 am
Well, my Webmaster Tools finally says "Google has not detected any malware on this site". So, that is a good thing! I still have the nasty red warning box though :( I guess it's just a waiting game now, what really bites is that Friday is usually one of my best traffic days because of my weekly giveaway linky. So all of those people who came to link up and/or enter giveaways now think my site is bad! I sure hope they come back next week.
Erin said on 9.22.12 at 12:28 am
Ok, I think the scary red box is gone now. Just waiting for Google to remove the Google search "This site may harm your computer" stuff. I'll be so glad when this is all resolved!
Will said on 9.22.12 at 12:48 am
Great Erin!
Have they restored your images in Google search too?
At least there's hope that this could begin to get resolved today/tonight!
Henrietta said on 9.22.12 at 1:13 am
And the Malware warning is gone! Now if they will remove the Google search "This site may harm your computer", I'll be a happy camper :) I agree Erin, it will be so nice to have this fixed for the weekend!
Jenny said on 9.22.12 at 2:08 am
I've been waiting for the elusive "Request a review" button for 13 hours now. :(
Henrietta said on 9.22.12 at 2:21 am
Jenny, have you tried refreshing the page? I had to clear my cache then sit there and refresh it for 15 minutes before it would show up.
My site now seems all clear, it shows up in search without the warning! Whew! I hope it resolves soon for everyone else!
Justin Germino said on 9.22.12 at 3:28 am
Okay a friend of mine removed the malware warning in only a few hours following these steps:
Remove IZEA Media code
Go to http://www.stopbadware.org/home/reportsearch
search for your site
if shows up yellow or red
Click on site link
Click on "Request an independent review of data provider results"
Thanks to @MetallmanX for posting this!
Jenny said on 9.22.12 at 3:41 am
Yeah I have logged in on different browsers and nothing is making it appear. I'm just ready to be done with this. Thanks a lot, IZEA.
I'm glad your site is fixed Henrietta! That is good news for sure.
Julia Young said on 9.22.12 at 12:13 pm
So, my site is still blocked. I have lost a ton of money and I haven't received one piece of communication from Izea! If it wasn't for my fans and other bloggers I wouldn't even know how to fix this issue or what caused it. Very poor job Izea! Google says it may take several weeks to recheck my site. If so, my site will be destroyed along with my income. These are major legal implications for Izea!
Justin Germino said on 9.22.12 at 12:21 pm
This is hurting my laptop giveaway contest, most people already think such contests are scams, to have a real one present this warning doesn't help. Still no resolution was hoping I would wake up and it would be resolved.
Have had IZEA Media ads removed, filed reconsider requests with Google and StopBadWare.org. Frustrating for sure!
Erin said on 9.22.12 at 1:52 pm
All is back to normal with my site, thank goodness.
Julia - did you do a request for reconsideration or a request for review? You'll have to do a request for review because the reconsideration request won't address this issue and takes a lot longer. In the meantime, go to stopbadware dot org and request a review from them, because they will communicate to Google and give you the all clear if the malware is gone. Also, keep checking your webmaster tools dashboard for the button to appear that says "request a review." You will find this if you click on your URL, then "Health" then "Malware." Hope this helps!
And yes, IZEA really needs to send out an email. I'm sure there are still some confused folks out there trying to troubleshoot this issue and wasting time looking for the source of the problem.
Julia Young said on 9.22.12 at 2:32 pm
I did the request for reconsideration. I don't have the button "request for review". I went to stopbadware dot org yesterday and requested their review. Still nothing. Any suggestions on how to get the request for reconsideration button?
Julia Young said on 9.22.12 at 2:33 pm
I meant request for review button.....
Will said on 9.22.12 at 3:35 pm
Julia,
The request for review button will be in your Google Webmaster Tools Under 'Heather' and then when you click on 'Malware'.
For most of us the Request Review button still hasn't shown up yet on it. Seems that this issue has done something that blacklisted all of us so it can take hours or days for the Review Request button to finally appear.
I'm noticing that those with smaller sites are getting there a littler earlier while those of us with really big sites are taking longer.
My site bestmoviesevernews dot com has still got the big red scary box 'site may harm your computer' in search listings and we're still knocked out of Google Images and Google News. Traffic dropped 50% yesterday and it's barely registering today.
With this being the weekend, hopefully IZEA will still be trying to get this fixed!
http://www.metallman.com/2012/09/malware-warning-izea-media-ads-cause.html said on 9.22.12 at 4:19 pm
This article from Victor Salazar might help some that have just discovered they're still blacklisted.
Since so many are already hearing back from StopBadWare, I e-mailed them again since we've been over 24 hours sending to them with no response. We've not got marketing people from the movie studios we deal with e-mailing about this issue on our site. This is truly turning into a real nightmare that can hit us hard if it doesn't get fixed soon. 24 hours is bad, going on more is just getting ridiculous.
amiable amy said on 9.22.12 at 4:47 pm
I am not a computer savvy and having this issue in my blog is devastating! The elusive REQUEST FOR REVIEW button is not showing up either.
Erin said on 9.22.12 at 4:53 pm
Keep checking for the button, it should show up at some point (hopefully soon!) It took 18+ hours for mine to show up and mine isn't an enormous site. You may have to refresh or log out and back in throughout the day to check periodically.
It's definitely frustrating! And a little infuriating that an IZEA email still hasn't gone out. I definitely feel for those people who are still searching for the source of the problem and therefore can't move forward with fixing their site.
Will said on 9.22.12 at 5:00 pm
the good thing is that the sites that have recovered are doing an article about this so information is beginning to flow out there for people.
when mine gets up at least it'll hit google news so that should definitely get it out even more for those poor people who have no clue what's going on. just so they know the steps to take to get their site back up in the Green!
Will said on 9.22.12 at 6:35 pm
Amiable Amy
I just finally got the Request Review button on my Tools after 27 hours so it's happens!
Then it's another 10 to 72 hours for their process and then 24 -48 for your indexed links on Google Images, Google News to come back.
amiable amy said on 9.22.12 at 6:44 pm
Erin, thank you ... it works! I did change my password and theme though.
OMG Will, my heart is jumping for joy when I saw that little button. I have sleepless 2 nights just trying to capture the "elusive Request to Review" button.
Anyway, I am glad it showed up in your end too. Now, the WAITING phase ...
Will said on 9.22.12 at 7:02 pm
Great Amy!
I just noticed that even IZEA's Staree site has still got the big red scary box too. And that's a site for sharing images so I can only imagine the impact that had alone.
Fingers crossed today is the days the rest of us with large heavy traffic & incomes loses get our sites back!
Jenny said on 9.22.12 at 7:56 pm
I'm at 31 hours now of the big red box of shame. I still do not have a request a review button, and StopBadware still has my request as "in progress".
I've had less than 10% of my normal traffic today. ***LESS THAN 10%*** That means 90% less revenue, lost opportunities, lost readers, and who knows what else.
What a nightmare this is. And what a joke.
Julia Young said on 9.22.12 at 8:00 pm
Jenny I am right there with you. No button for me either, hardly any traffic, loss of income AND no e-mail from Izea!TOTALLY FRUSTRATED!
amiable amy said on 9.22.12 at 8:30 pm
Jenny and Julia, I hope the REQUEST TO REVIEW button will show up on both of you. But, here is what I did few hours ago:
I change the password and change the theme of the blog.
I ptoceed to the Webmaster Tools, click the BLOG then, hit the HEALTH, FETCH as GOOGLE, Click FETCH. After few minutes I saw the green check and success status.
I went back to HEALTH -> MALWARE then; the tiny button just showed up beside the DOWNLOAD THIS TABLE. It actually appeared twice. Good luck!
carribright said on 9.22.12 at 8:35 pm
Hi Everyone,
We apologize for the continued frustration with this. As this is the first time something like this has happened to us, we were not prepared for the depth of the issue nor are we yet certain of what steps have to be taken to rectify this for the individual blogs affected.
Our own sites have also been hit with this as well and our initial feedback was that once we were cleared, this would then trickle down to the blogs affected through us. However, as we are still being in the process of being scanned this is taking far longer than we had expected.
As maddening and frustrating as this is to work through, we are still reading and considering everything being sent to us and trying to get this resolved as soon as we can. We completely understand your anger and disappointment. I am not sure that I can personally offer anything other than empathy, a sounding boards and a body to take your justifiably angry blows, but I am here listening, taking the feedback and passing along anything that I come across that may help you to resolve this quicker.
Toward that end, I am copying instructions that helped another affected blogger from a post linked above. Hopefully this will help some of you and as soon as I know anything more definitively, I will be sure to let you know.
1. I removed both snippets of code for the IZEA Media Ads (html code embedded in your template and the html placement code in your layout)
2. I signed in to Google Webmaster Tools, clicked on my site, clicked on "Health" and then Malware. If the button to review your site is available, click on it for Google to review (if you do not see a review button, try refreshing the page a few times).
3. If you do not see a review button, click on "Fetch as Google" and click on the Fetch button.
4. After Google fetches your site, check the Malware section for the Review button again.
5. After all that was done, I went to StopBadware.org and clicked on Website Owners near the top.
I searched for my site (without www before your domain name. Eg. metallman.com NOT www.metallman.com)
6. Your website should come up with a yellow circle next to it.
7. Click on your website.
8. Click on Request an Independent Review of Data Provider's Findings
9. Sign up, provide your Email and wait...
All the Best,
Carri
amiable amy said on 9.22.12 at 8:47 pm
Thank you Carrie. I Know you are willing to help out too. You did help me 2 years ago.
I have to give credit to http://www.metallman.com/2012/09/malware-warning-izea-media-ads-cause.html also. I visited the link and it was very informative and the "Fetch as Google" really helps.
I cant remember the codes so; there's no way to delete it. The solution for me is to change my blog theme, hoping that the html code embedded in my blog template will disappear.
Crystal said on 9.22.12 at 9:09 pm
Hi Amy,
I'm using the Genesis Theme and had the Izea ad on a widget in my sidebar. I removed that but am still having issues. I'm not sure where my "template" is. Would that be under "Appearance" then under "editor" ? If so I didn't see an izea code. I'm completely lost! I removed the code yesterday and sent a request. Webmaster tools said it was reviewed yesterday and found the malware. I'm not sure what else to do. Can you help me locate where the code might be in my template? Thank you!!
carribright said on 9.22.12 at 9:21 pm
Hi Everyone,
Should you need it, this page shows you what the structure of the Media tags looks like (although each tag is individual to your blog).
http://socialspark.com/placing-ad-tags-on-your-blog
However, searching your template for these snippets should allow you to locate the code.
All the Best,
Carri
Will said on 9.22.12 at 9:37 pm
Amy,
To find the codes, just go into your Ads section here on Social Spark then hit Manage and it will show you the ads you have on your site
Just go into the Edit and then on your site in the Header section you should find it. That way you'll know what to take out.
In blogspot it's not so easy to find but you just need to go into Template and Edit HTML section to get to it. It'll be right near the top before the section.
For CRYSTAL: just go into your APPEARANCE and then EDIT section.
You should have a HEADER.PHP file which you can open and find the code to take out.
Hopefully that will help. We just lost The Hollywood Reporter which was a big syndicator of our articles now so this just gets worse and worse.
Victor Salazar said on 9.22.12 at 10:06 pm
Thanks for all the shout outs, guys. I'm glad that you are finding my post helpful. I'm sorry that I didn't post more specific instructions to getting to your template html code. I personally use blogger but I know that there are many website hosts out there and I did not want to mislead any one with bad directions to their template html code.
Will said on 9.22.12 at 11:42 pm
Hey Victor,
Have you tried putting any of the Social Spark ad codes back on your site yet?
I finally got the clean bill of health from Google and waiting for the next stop...losing the big red scary box!
amiable amy said on 9.22.12 at 11:48 pm
Will,
Thank you so much for that helpful information. That's what I did on the first crucial hours yesterday. But, when I look at my HTML, it was very confusing. CHANGING THE THEME of my blog works because it did eradicate the problem.
I checked the HEALTH-MALWARE in my blog few seconds ago and the 5 suspected URL's were gone with this message: GOOGLE HAS NOT DETECTED ANY MALWARE ON THIS SITE. What a relief! Again, thank you Will.
Victor Salazar,
That post really gives me an idea. I have to give you credit for that. Thank you so much. Without your input, I am lost as well.
Crystal,
Carrie and Will already answered your inquiry. I am hoping that you already locate the code in your HTML. Good luck to you.
Drew Bennett (@BenSpark) said on 9.22.12 at 11:59 pm
The request for review button has not come up for me as of yet. I started this on Friday morning at 6am when I went for my morning walk and blog (I have a TrekDesk Treadmill Desk setup) and Wham there was the red warning of shame. I freaked out, was talking with friends who also got the warning and we tried to get to the bottom of it. I tried everything that was set forth here in this thread and other things as well. I still do not see the request for review button. I did do the request for reconsideration though before I knew all the details. Still waiting for that button. Still waiting for the stop badware review too. Erg!
Carrie, thanks for the information and taking the lumps from everyone, I know that is a suck position to be in. I appreciate your help.
amiable amy said on 9.23.12 at 1:23 am
Just to give an update, GOOGLE took the "WARNING OF SHAME" on my blog just minutes ago. I hope everyone here had the same experience. I Google Search my site and the: "This site may harm your computer" is gone.
Thank you Will and Victor.
Thank Carrie for staying with us.
Drew,
I hope you'll capture the elusive REQUEST to REVIEW button. Hit the "Fetch as Google and Fetch" that really helped me. The review form is small, just keep an eye on it. It will appear beside the DOWNLOAD THIS TABLE button. Goodluck
Justin Germino said on 9.23.12 at 1:30 am
Malware warning finally removed from DragonBlogger.com.
Victor Salazar said on 9.23.12 at 2:02 am
Hey there Will. No, I have not reinserted the code just yet. I want to make sure that there is an official statement from IZEA in regards to the IZEA Media Ad code BEFORE I place it on my blog. Just to be on the cautious side, you know.
Glad to hear many of the sites are getting the warning taken off of their sites!!! It's been a very tumultuous few days to say the least.
Drew Bennett (@BenSpark) said on 9.23.12 at 2:18 am
I did finally get the request for review button and let them know what I did and the whole situation that other bloggers are going through.
Tom Mannis said on 9.23.12 at 2:41 am
Thanks for posting this. My blog was also affected, at approximately 3AM on Friday, 21 Sept. I was able to determine that the malware was being served to my site from "admaxstat.com," via a webhosting service in Chicago called Singlehop.com. I submitted a written complaint to "abuse@singlehop.com" then also spoke with them and Singlehop sent me this email early today (22 Sept):
"This is a confirmation that we have sent a cease and desist notice to our client regarding the issue which is the subject of this abuse complaint. We have expressed that it is an urgent matter. They now have 24 hours to deal with the problem. After that time we can take further actions."
Tom Mannis said on 9.23.12 at 2:43 am
I just noticed that I submitted a comment at 9:40 PM on 9.22.12 but when it posted it was time stamped "9.23.12 at 2:41 am" - what's up with that? LOL
Will said on 9.23.12 at 2:43 am
Same here, Google cleared my site and then all the indexed links including the very valuable Google News came back thankfully. Sadly we lost 50 sites that syndicate our news but hopefully we can convince them to come back...they were big sites!
Shortly after the google clear, then the BadWare got cleared and then everything showed up again. IZEA's Staree site has still got the big bad showing though.
Grat Drew about the button popping up for ya. Funny enough, it was only about 2 hours after that came up that the process really sped up. Thankfully this didn't happen during the Holidays when many of us really do the big business.
Definitely know what to do if this happens again, but after what this did to IZEA, I'm sure they're really going to be putting their advertisers through a more stringent process.
Melissa Cleaver said on 9.23.12 at 3:23 am
I just wanted to let you know that I STILL am blacklisted by Google and because I never received the request for review button in my Google Webmaster Tools and had to try and submit my site for review through StopBadware, I don't know WHEN my site will be back up.
I'm so angry right now at the money and readers I have lost over your mistake and how you've offered no help or explanation in the least. You've screwed with hundreds of people's businesses and reputation and now I'm STILL suffering for it with no relief in sight.
Jenny said on 9.23.12 at 5:32 am
On 9/23/12 at roughly 8:30pm ET, Google finally showed the "Request a Review" button for my site in Google Webmaster Tools, over 35 hours after I removed IZEA Media from my site.
As of 1:20am on 9/24/12 (5 hours later), my site is no longer displaying the scary, red warning box. At this time, my site still has the malware warning next to my URLs in Google search results.
This has been such a nightmare. :-(
Will said on 9.23.12 at 7:33 am
Hey Jenny,
I'm sorry it's taken so dang long! Once it stops displaying the Red Box, everything else comes back including Google Images.
It feels like it's been a very surreal experience, and now I'm cranking out articles trying to make up for all the lost time. One of our writers here has now gotten addicted to your site with all those giveaways like your candle one!
You're almost there too now.
Drew Bennett (@BenSpark) said on 9.23.12 at 7:44 am
I'm back and no more red screen of shame. Still waiting for the little disclaimer to be removed from my google search for "BenSpark.com" but for now, I'll take it. I hope that everyone else is having good luck getting back in good graces with Google.
Jennifer said on 9.23.12 at 11:29 am
My traffic has dropped by half and I am livid! I am still marked after requesting reconsideration and I am still waiting for the malware warning to go the hell away! The lack of communication has only added fuel to my fire. After years of a great relationship with IZEA it has been ruined not by just what happened but by no communication.
Brett said on 9.23.12 at 11:48 am
i'm still not back fully either. certain posts are flagging me with malware. this sucks. i've lost a LOT of readers- who say they miss my site but they are sure i can understand they cannot risk malware.... that means i've lost page views, and income.
Julia Young said on 9.23.12 at 2:16 pm
I am finally in the clear with Google. It took way too long! I am grateful that this nightmare is over. I will not put Izea ads back on my site ever again.
Kate Spitz said on 9.23.12 at 2:36 pm
The social spark tag is no longer on my homepage and I was notified of this issue this morning.
I'm not sure if I should put that HTML link back or not until it is figured out where the malware is actually coming from. This makes me really nervous.
What's the preventative method here?
Jenny said on 9.23.12 at 2:50 pm
Thank goodness, the warning is now gone in Google search! I also checked ranking for keyword searches and my site still seems to be in the same rank position as before this fiasco - hooray!
The only thing I've noticed that doesn't seem right is when I search for 'site:mysite.com', it's showing really old posts where it didn't before. Hopefully that will correct itself as time goes on.
@Will haha - that made me smile, thanks. :) So happy to finally be in the clear. I hope you get get those syndicated sites back on board!
Will said on 9.23.12 at 5:14 pm
Great new Jenny!
So glad you're back up and running. Yeah, it'll be a little adjustment on Google's end since they can be a bit creaky getting things back up to speed.
My only thing I wonder is that since we got marked with Malware on our sites, does this work as a penalty on all our sites too?
Will said on 9.23.12 at 5:16 pm
Also, I'm really surprised that IZEA's Staree site still has the big red box.
Tom Mannis said on 9.23.12 at 8:32 pm
I removed the Izea ad last night when I became aware of this blog post. BUT in Google search my site still has "This site may harm your computer" under it, and I am still getting the scary warning pages in both Chrome and Firefox. Gad. THANKS to Kate Spitz: Her comment reminded me that I need to remove code. BTW: WHY does Izea show my ads as "successfully setup and running" on my three blogs EVEN THOUGH they have been set to inactive?!? I'm really losing faith in Izea's technical capabilities and will NEVER run another ad. I'll write endorsed posts, but no more ads.
Will said on 9.23.12 at 9:33 pm
Hey Tom,
It can take a bit of time before things like the Google Request Review button pops up and then getting things squared away. Above is Metalman's tips on what to do in case you've not done them as it definitely helps gets things moving along.
Seems that IZEA wasn't the only place hit as many ad services got this nasty thing and in July some Fortune 500 companies were hit with ad malware. Hopefully this will lead to more implementation and such.
What sucks is the hurry up and wait aspect of all this.
Nizam said on 9.24.12 at 3:45 am
I'm putting back the IZEA ads to my site. Hope everything goes well. One thing that I really want to know, is adding the IZEA ads will decrease our website traffic? Sorry if this question is quite lame.
Justin Germino said on 9.24.12 at 7:58 am
Tangible Effects of loss, many may suffer more but this Malware issue caused the following:
85% traffic drop on DragonBlogger.com for 36 hours, down over 3,000 pageviews.
*****************
$42.75 estimated lost revenue for the 36 hours of the malware issue from loss of both AdSense earnings and estimated IZEA Media Earnings + estimated affiliate sales loss from the traffic.
My revenue loss for 36 hours was more than that IZEA Media banner makes me in a month unfortunately.
@Nizam, IZEA Media typically doesn't affect your site traffic, this malware issue though would since most people would not click through and visit if they were presented with that warning. I have been using IZEA Media ads for months, earned hundreds from them and had no issues until this event which I do believe is isolated and not a long term issue.
Until Staree and other sites related to IZEA are restored and don't have a Malware issue, I would refrain from putting the IZEA Media Ad code back in, since if Staree Ad shows up you will get malware warning too right now since Staree still has malware warning.
IZEA Media Update | SocialSpark said on 9.24.12 at 3:01 pm
[...] we mentioned in our previous post, a single malicious ad was placed via one of the third-party networks that we use from time to time [...]
Tom Mannis said on 9.24.12 at 6:01 pm
Anybody interested in a CLASS ACTION LAWSUIT against Admaxstat and their hosting company SingleHop.com? I received this callous email from SingleHop this morning:
"We were in touch with the server administration, and after discussion the reported problem is claimed to be resolved. Please get back to us in case you believe the reported abusive activity/content still exists in our network/the problem is not resolved within 24 hours, or consider this ticket closed." (My response to SingleHop follows.)
MY RESPONSE: "The malware pumped out by Admaxstat - through your servers - has screwed up hundred if not thousands of websites. You claim that the problem is "resolved," but many of us are suffering because of lost websites, lost revenue, lost reputations, and lost time trying to fix this problem on our end. Shame on SingleHop for its sloppy security practices. I am trying to get a class action suit against you and your client/s (it would seem that admaxstat was NOT the only one of your clients pumping malware through your servers)."
Barb said on 10.1.12 at 12:48 am
I am having the same problem as everyone above. However, I don't even have any ads on my website so why am I getting this message. No one will visit my site with a warning of malware. How do I get ride of the warning.
This is very frustrating.
Carri Bright said on 10.1.12 at 5:18 pm
Hi Barb,
I am sorry to hear about the frustration you are experiencing. Although your issue us not related to IZEA, you should be able to request a review of your site just as those affected Media users did.
1. Sign in to Google Webmaster Tools, clicked on my site, clicked on "Health" and then Malware. If the button to review your site is available, click on it for Google to review (if you do not see a review button, try refreshing the page a few times).
3. If you do not see a review button, click on "Fetch as Google" and click on the Fetch button.
4. After Google fetches your site, check the Malware section for the Review button again.
5. After all that was done, I went to StopBadware.org and clicked on Website Owners near the top.
I searched for my site (without www before your domain name. Eg. metallman.com NOT www.metallman.com)
6. Your website should come up with a yellow circle next to it.
7. Click on your website.
8. Click on Request an Independent Review of Data Provider's Findings
9. Sign up, provide your Email and wait...
All the Best,
Carri