Springfield BOE Hosts Malware Site

What could be more user-friendly than a township Board of Ed site? Springfield's is entirely welcoming, including the banners at the top of the page.

But be careful where you click. You could be heading to a malware site.

At the top of the township's BOE webpage is a box of links to non-profit sites that seem fine: give answers at one site, and they donate rice to the needy. Another site links to Project Red, a site that fosters technology in the classroom.

One other link goes to 2ndFloor.org, which bills itself as "a confidential and anonymous helpline for. New Jersey's youth and young adults. But if you have your safety protocols up on your browswer, you'll get a warning in red: "Visiting this website may hard your computer!

Google gives this explanation for flagging 2ndFloor.org: "Google has detected possible instances of malware/viruses hosted somewhere on the specified URL/link or website. Malware is malicious code downloaded to your machine without your consent, harming your computer."

Google explains that malicious software can be installed without the user's knowledge or permission when sites with the warning are visited. The malware can include programs that delete data on a computer, steal personal information such as passwords and credit card numbers, or alter search results.

StopBadware.org, a site devoted to stopping and cleaning up malware, explained the problem: sites may be "compromised through a security hole, like outdated software or plugins, stolen passwords, or insecure permissions. Using an infected PC to update your website can also cause the site to become infected."

The problem on the Springfield BOE site - the use of an ad banner provided by another organization - can be one way that a user who clicks on a banner can get infected: "Another common way that legitimate sites are compromised is through the ads provided by an advertising network. Many ad networks take steps to guard against bad ads, but this system is not foolproof."

The Springfield BOE could not be reached in time for this article. We will update this when we get new information.