Beware: Spotify serving viruses to its listeners

It’s been discovered that Spotify has been serving malware to listeners who use the free version of its service. Its advertisements have been directing PC users to virus-containing websites.

Users have reported that the music streaming software continues to open their default web browsers to load websites that are infested with viruses. The issue has affected those using Windows, Mac, and Linux operating systems, and has led to several complaints on the Spotify Community website and Twitter. The malware sites appear to have nothing to do with the ad in question. Some even attempt to install viruses automatically without the user clicking a thing.

The primary concern is associated with a single advertisement on Spotify, which the company assures has been removed after it discovered the issue.

“We've identified an issue where a small number of users were experiencing a problem with questionable website pop-ups in their default browsers as a result of an isolated issue with an ad on our Free tier. We have now identified the source of the problem and have shut it down,” Spotify said.

Spotify has tens of millions of users on its free version service which is supported by advertisements that play in between songs. And this isn’t the first time Spotify has been affected by malware. A similar event occurred in 2011 when a virus masking as a Windows security software was shown to listeners.

Source: Telegraph