Blogger Blogs Redirecting To "deplayer.net "

This week, we are seeing a few reports from anxious bloggers that their blogs are redirecting to mysterious URLs containing the domain "deplayer.net". This is somewhat reminiscent of the "searchinvented.com / smashingfeeds.com" hijacks seen during January 2010, and to the "sendptp.com" hijacks seen during February 2010.

Early reports mention the "Real time hit counter" gadget, seen by some as the "Halifax 2011" countdown gadget, or possibly the "Halloween 2010" countdown gadget, as being the gadget most successfully removed.

It's also possible that the "falling snow" and "Tweet This" gadget code has been upgraded to redirect to "deplayer.net". We also have reports of an "ITunes" accessory, a "Martin Luther King Jr Quotes" gadget, and a "yoga journal" / "yoga pose" gadget being involved this month.

As always, I'll caution you to be wary of any third party gadgets. It appears from some comments received that there is protective code in these newest gadgets, which aggressively blocks use of the "Page Elements" gadget GUI removal. If you try to hit the "Remove" button, or hit "Layout" from the dashboard link, and you are redirected, you have 2 choices.

1. Use "the Page Elements" wizard from a browser / computer which blocks scripts from all third party domains, outside the Blogger / Google world.
2. Access the Layout "Edit HTML" wizard directly, and remove the entry for the HTML / JavaScript gadget directly from the template code.

After removing the offending code, don't forget to clear cache, before testing your change!

---

It appears that some malware may be included in some gadgets installed by the Blogger "Add a Gadget" wizard. If you find removing any Blogger gadgets to provide you any relief, please report your findings in my article Some Hijack Malware Is Being Claimed To Be Blogger Provided. Your details, provided there, would be greatly appreciated.

---

>> Top