Tuesday, March 09, 2010

Exclusive: Websites like Drudge can spread viruses, ‘non-partisan’ techie warned Senate

RAW STORY

The Senate's environment committee has warned Capitol Hill staffers to avoid the Drudge Report and some other sites over suspicions of viruses, a spokesperson for the committee confirmed to Raw Story Tuesday.

The Drudge Report denied the allegations and mocked the committee in a prominently-featured story, but a CNET report on Tuesday notes that readers have complained about suspicious malware on the site today.

According to Drudge, "The Senate's Committee on Environment and Public Works issued an urgent email late Monday claiming the DRUDGE REPORT is 'responsible for the many viruses popping up throughout the Senate.'" The article said, "The committee ordered hill staff: 'Try to avoid' the DRUDGE REPORT 'for now'."

The EPW spokesperson, who wished to remain anonymous, told Raw Story that Drudge was one of several Web sites flagged by the committee's non-partisan tech experts as containing "virus infections" and "pop-up ads."

"The Senate Help Desk, in discussing a recent increase in the number of virus infections in Senate computers, mentioned that it might be associated with pop-up ads appearing through certain websites, and they cited DrudgeReport.com and WhitePages.com as possible examples," said the spokesperson....................................

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