Google, who owns YouTube, are almost certainly doing a much better job of policing adverts on their network than the networks being used by these third-party plugins. If you are tricked by the warning message, you might find yourself downloading a bogus security update for java, designed to install malware onto your computer. WARNING !!! Your Java Version is outdated, have Security Risks.

Here, for instance, is a bogus security warning about Java – distributed via a malicious advert, inserted into YouTube by the Easy YouTube Video Downloader plugin. But advertising slots are also being purchased by criminals, with the intention of infecting computers with malware. They are probably unaware of how their adverts are appearing, having purchased slots on advertising exchange networks. The good news is that they are legitimate brands. Spider.io says that the display ad slots are being bought by premium advertisers such as Amazon Local, American Airlines, AT&T, BlackBerry, Cadillac, Domino’s, Ford, Kellogg’s, Marriott, Norton, Toyota, Sprint, Walgreens and Western Union. Here, for instance, is an advert from Sprint which the Easy YouTube Video Downloader plugin has injected into a YouTube page:Īnd here are more adverts from Amazon, Toyota and Norton (yes, Norton!):

What’s perhaps surprising to many is that legitimate brands can often appear in these injected adverts on YouTube. Furthermore, some of the ads displayed direct users to malware.

What Spider.io discovered was that the two plugins display ads on the YouTube website when it is viewed by affected PCs, a breach of YouTube’s rules. Don’t be confused – they’re all the same bunch of people. You may see plugins like these associated with companies named Yontoo, Alactro and Sambreel.

Easy youtube video download