In December 2024, Microsoft Threat Intelligence identified a malware campaign stemming from pirate streaming sites. Using iframe malvertising redirector URLs to generate revenue, and redirects up to five layers deep, malware payloads hosted on GitHub, Discord and Dropbox, acted as a dropper for additional payloads hosted elsewhere. Microsoft says the goal was to steal information and it believes almost a million devices were infected.
Even if you’re not pirating as ads from google can be dangerous as well: Ublock Origin + Privacy Badger + Decentraleyes + VPN
PiHole or AdGuard Home as DNS at router level and boom, wider net and smaller attack surface.
I personally had issues with AdGuard as a DNS with quite a few websites breaking. I use Quad9 instead.
Same with a VPN at router level, I play games that are harsh on VPN usage and don’t want to get banned on those so can’t use it network wide atm.
Oh, I meant Adguard Home, in it you can configure whatever upstream you want. Basically another alternative to Pi-Hole. And router level, I meant configuring the DNS there, so all devices default to it. Not a VPN per say.
They still just block ads right? My issue with that is that it breaks certain sites and due to it being on router level I can’t just turn it off for that site (as far as I know, I may work in IT but I’m not thaaaat technical)
You can turn it off for a device to connect to that site, or add it globally. You can also choose which block lists you use (they’re available from a list), some are too much. If a certain request from a specific device is being blocked when the site breaks, you can tap to add it to a whitelist. I also manipulate a local Home Assistant installation to host a whitelist that can be switched on/off as requested. I just hit app -> filters -> whitelist -> en/disable
Also it can moderate all traffic. You can block or add anything, with presets for porn if you’re not about that
Woah actually sounds interesting, and this is all possible just with adguard or how did you set it up?
I am looking into setting up Home Assistant once I’ve secure an appartement but it seems kinda complicated.
You point either your dns on the router to it, set it as the DHCP server (that’s what I had to do as my modem/router from att didn’t support dns change) or point your devices to it manually in their individual settings, which works if you only use them on that network or have it accessible on the net.
If you’re serious about a homelab, there’s a ton of info online, I highly recommend learning docker through Linux if you’re not already familiar with it, makes self hosting service a lot easier in most cases. I actually run Adguard home specifically in an LXC container in one of my proxmox nodes “bare metal”, however you can use docker for it as well, just was easier for me to not deal with port overlap
Been doing it for years without said issues, so can’t help you there. But not being technical enough is super valid.
Hadn’t heard of Privacy Badger. Thanks for this.
Its a great extra! Glad to be of help