9 mo. ago • 87%

Possible virus?(Firefox)

I opened firefox After about an hour of the system being in standby and in theSponsored Links row there were 2 new entries

http:/ /bom07s30-in-x03. 1e100. net/ (I dismantled the URLs to prevent accidental clicks)

pnbomb-ac-in-x0e.1e100

I right clicked and searched in Google and it showed up as this

pnbomb-ac-in-x0e.1e100 Sponsored it disappeared after a while, just to be sure I ran sudo lsof -i and noticed firefox was connected to this url

maa05s15-in-x03.1e100.net

I am not sure if am infected or this is just a glitch(I obviously didn't click on the links)

34 comments

1e100.net is google's catch-all domain. Many of their services run under this domain.

Read more here : https://support.google.com/faqs/answer/174717

It is a geeky pun, 1e100 is scientific notation for 1 followed by a hundred zeroes. This number is called a googol, which is similar sounding to google.

96
- Indeed Google is named after the googol
  
  37
  
  There goes my hope of Google being named after gabagool.
  
  11
Others have answered your question. I would like to add that when you want to "dismantle" the URL, there is a practice in cyber security called URL Defanging. Protocols are escaped, such that http becomes hxxp. Other significant symbols that are :// becomes [://] and . becomes [.]

Combining these, your URL becomes: hxxp[://]bom07s30-in-x03[.]1e100[.]net/

Which will be safer for others to navigate. It will take an extra effort to revert it back to the functional URL. Tools like CyberChef can perform this action if you seek a more streamlined solution.

51
- TIL. I didn't know there was a standard, and I've never seen "hxxp", although the rest is familiar looking.
  
  3
Search 1e100, it's a google thing

18
- *it's a googol thing
  
  11
- Yes but why did it show up In the Sponsored links row?
  
  8
  
  From mozilla. I'm guessing that the links were hosted/owned/etc. by google. When your system resumed it only partially loaded the sponsored links and you were left with the text of the url.
  
  Your system is fine security wise, but privacy wise pinging google servers everytime you open a new tab is not ideal. This type of stuff is why I use Librewolf. Of course it's up to you how much it bothers you. You can disable alot in vanilla firefox too.
  
  27
installed any extensions recently?

3
- No, I only use Ublock origin which i had installed Approx 4-5 months ago
  
  4
wtf are Sponsored Links, and why do you need them?

1
- Sponsored links: Mozilla gets money for AD links showing up below the search url on the new tabs page. If you do not disable them (they are on by default).
  
  3
- @NOOBMASTER @Artemis_Mystique So google can make money.
  
  2
From what I've read 1e100.net belongs to Google, so yea it's a virus.

1
I would go the nuclear route if I were you

-1
- Fuckin" aye!
  
  1
Firefox is a browser to surf the web. Nothing to worry about. (/s)

-9
- Do you know what a post body is?
  
  4
  
  I wanted to make a simple joke.
  
  2

You've viewed 34 comments.