WASHINGTON – The New York Times warned readers of its website on Monday to beware of a virus masquerading as an advertisement.
The newspaper said some users of NYTimes.com had encountered a pop-up box that warned them about a virus and directed them to go to a site that claims to offer anti-virus software.
The site is itself virus-like, the Times said, hijacking a Web browser and making it appear as if a scan for viruses is running.
The Times said the scam appeared only to affect personal computers running on Windows and was not a threat to Apple machines.
The Times said readers who encountered the pop-up ad should not click on it but quit and restart their Web browser.
