Spotify's Free Service Served Malware Via Ads But Was Caught By Users

Users of music streaming company Spotify's free service got an unpleasant surprise when it was found that for a brief amount of time the ad network used by the company was serving up malware-ridden ads.

According to user reports, the malware programs were served through pop-up ads and unexplained web pages that appeared while accessing the service. The virus affected all types of OS - Windows, Linux, and Mac.

A post in Spotify's community forums detailed the issue.

"If you have Spotify Free open, it will launch - and keep on launching - the default internet browser on the computer to different kinds of malware / virus sites," reported user tonyonly

Some of the websites that users' browsers  were being directed to, didn't even need any user action for the infection to take hold of the computer.

Users took to social media to highlight the problem and Spotify responded swiftly to fix the issue.

"A small number of users have experienced 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. We will continue to monitor the situation," said the company in a statement.

It has however not clarified whether it is taking additional steps to prevent such issues from occurring again.

The latest issue is a reoccurrence of a similar incident that took place in 2011 when a fake anti-virus program installed itself on users' computers.

The issue of malicious software being embedded into an ad network has been a persistent problem, giving rise to increasing use of ad blockers. For Spotify users, the only option to completely avoid this issue is to unfortunately either get a subscription or stop accessing the free service and remove the app.